Lure of Death's Call
by soulguard
Summary: The past can never be forgotten, no matter how hard you try to forget. For one survivor, being a Little Sister was the only life she truly understood. So now she must face a life long question, but some questions should not be asked.
1. Chapter 1

**Lure of Death's Call  
**By: Soulguard

* * *

**I: That movie… "Aliens"?**

"Do you ever think of going back there?"

"Rapture? Why?"

"The man that saved you, gave you the key to the city, killed all the bad people didn't he? It can be restored, rebuilt."

"No… not all. Everyone down there was bad. He couldn't kill them all. And the Big Daddy's still work and thrive down there. I'd rather not see them again."

"Do you still dream of it, after all this time?"

"Every damn night."

"How do you cope?"

"I drink… a lot."

"How old were you at the time?"

"Jesus, I don't know… eight, nine maybe."

"That would make you, thirty-eight or thirty nine now?"

"So interested in my age? I'm forty three."

"You don't look a day over thirty."

"Bless you."

"So, the Big Daddies?"

"They were the only good and pure creatures in that hell. A pity what those scientists did to those men."

"Peaceful?"

"Very peaceful, unless you angered them. And then they were relentless in their pursuit of you. They would hunt you down no matter how far you went."

"Noted. Don't anger the Big Daddy's."

"You know, you never told me why you are so interested in Rapture. Didn't I do enough interviews in the 80's?"

"Well, that was the 80's. This is 95, and the sanctions of Rapture have been lifted. Exploration grants are being negotiated."

"You really think to go down there?"

"As soon as our grant is approved."

"That explains how you knew me. Listen, if you really want to go down there, good luck, but I'm not going to give you any more information."

"Why?"

"You'll die down there."

"That's why I would like more info."

"I won't encourage your suicide."

"What if I asked you to come along? To face your demons?"

"Do I look like Ellen Ripley?"

"Great movie, but this isn't 'Aliens', this is Rapture. You were down there, you know how it all works. You were a little sister."

"I got out and never looked back. The world up here is so much better… and safer."

"What could happen?"

"Splicers can happen."

"That was thirty five years ago, surely they are mostly dead, or too old to be a threat."

"You really don't have a clue about the shit they were doing down there?"

"That's why I am going down."

"Well, I'll keep my eye on the news for a lost man at sea."

"I won't be alone. I'm taking a team, and a few heavy hitters."

"Oh, then I'll look in the news for a lost 'team' at sea."

"Come with us."

"No."

"You alone can guarantee an increase in our survival odds."

"What is it with you men and going into hellish places?"

"Testosterone. We'll pay you, and anything you want to bring back is yours."

"No! Never! No way in hell am I going back!"

- - - - - - -

Melissa sat on the edge of her bed, pondering the insane notion that was bubbling in her head. It was foolish, and she knew it. She was too old to be thinking of such things. Rapture was something she desperately wanted to put out of her mind, but she simply could not. The man, Jason, had brought back dreams that she had long washed away. Though her nightmares never ceased, her youthful ambitions had always been to go back. But Melissa knew that she was no longer young.

She picked up the telephone receiver and called an old friend. "Christina?"

"Melissa, what's wrong? It's three in the morning."

"I couldn't sleep."

"Drink some milk, call me in the morning."

"I think I'm going back to Rapture."

Christina was silent on the line.

"You still there?" Melissa asked.

"Yeah, I didn't want to wake Dave. Are you insane?"

"You know all the press we got a few years ago? Back when they found Rapture and we came forward?"

"Yeah, our lives haven't been the same since. But what does that have to do with you going back?"

"I've always wanted to, I was simply fooling myself about not wanting to. I've never assimilated this life the way you did. I didn't get married…"

"You still have time to meet someone…" Christina started.

"and I didn't have kids."

"That can still happen." Christina huffed on the line. "Melissa, you can't go back. You know what's down there."

"I don't have a husband and kid like you do, Christina."

"My son is in college, he's not really a kid anymore."

Melissa sighed. "You know what I mean. I don't have family."

"I'm your family! Remember what we told Jack, and each other. We are family. You're my sister, Melissa, now stop talking about this."

"I even bought a boat a few years ago, in case I found the nerve to go back." Melissa laughed.

"Melissa, why? I can hear it in your voice, and I know what you're thinking. Please don't!"

"I'm not going alone, this guy came to me and asked me to guide his team. Don't worry, I'll keep them away from Prometheus."

"I'm coming over, we can talk more about this!"

"No, Christina. You get back in bed with Dave, kiss him for me and tell Danny I'll try to bring him back some cool souvenirs. "

"Damn it, Melissa, you aren't in your twenties, you are forty three years old! We're too old to be dreaming of adventures!"

Melissa laughed on the line. "I love you, Christina. I'll contact you when I get back."

"Melissa if you go down there you won't come back…"

Melissa hung up the phone and sighed in the darkness of her small one bedroom apartment. The phone immediately began to ring again, most likely Christina calling to talk some sense into her, but for the first time, in a long time, Melissa felt that she was making the right choice. She ignored the ringing phone and packed her bag.

She didn't wait for morning to leave. Melissa drove directly to the New York harbor. This was the only way to avoid Christina if she came looking for her. Melissa got out of her car and walked to the nearest payphone and called the number Jason had given her after the interview.

It was a cold morning and the sun was just about to peak. "Hello." Came a reply on the phone.

"You'll need weapons, armor piercing rounds as well as insulated armor."

"Melissa? Right, right. Of course! Anything else?"

"Food and clean water, though the plumbing down there is most likely running you don't want to run the risk of it being contaminated."

"That's obvious. We have no plans of eating or drinking the food down there."

"Also, and this is most important. Promise me you have no plans of using Adam or Eve?"

"We only want to study it." Jason replied.

Melissa huffed. "I'm a big fan of the movie 'Aliens', Jason. I can see the similarities in our actions. I won't be as calm as Ripley was."

"We know what Adam and Eve did to the people down there, Melissa. You have my word."

Melissa obviously didn't believe him. "I'm at the docks. I'm ready whenever you are."

"I'll call the team, and we'll be there in an hour or less."

Melissa hung up the phone and walked back to her car. She turned on the heat, leaned back in the passenger seat and closed her eyes. She was going back to Rapture, after thirty five years, she was finally going back. As she waited for Jason and his group, Melissa slept and had the best sleep she'd had since she first left Rapture.

**To be continued…**


	2. Chapter 2

**II: Suspense like in "Stargate."**

The knock on the window jolted Melissa awake. She grabbed her chest and tried to calm her racing heart. She looked out of the passenger window as a younger black man looked at her seductively.

"You Melissa?" The man shouted into the window.

Melissa rolled down the glass, just a crack, and said, "Who wants to know?"

"Jason sent me over, said you may have some stuff you'd need help with."

"Where is Jason?"

"He went to pick up more ammo, he the only one with a weapons license."

Melissa sighed and rolled the window up. She opened the door and stepped out. The younger man was chewing bubblegum, and smiling at her strongly. "What?"

"For an older woman, you some kind of fine!" The man smiled. "Names Chris." He extended his hand, and Melissa noticed that his eyes were scanning her body from top to bottom. She felt awkward but she oddly enjoyed his leering gaze.

"Melissa." She replied as she shook his hand. His grip was tight, if clumsy. The man was tall but had a bit of a belly and weak looking arms. He wasn't in the best of shape. Melissa could best describe him as average. "Nice to meet you." Melissa opened the car door and grabbed her two bags.

"Cool. I can't believe it's really you. I mean, you really grew up down there?" The man's accent wasn't New York, it was more southern.

"In Rapture? Yes." Melissa watched as the man grabbed a bag and shouldered the other.

"That's crazy, girl. All sorts of crazy stuff happened down there. But it should be safe now. You're a real little sister. I still can't believe it. Crazy."

"Where are you from?" Melissa asked.

"I grew up in Virginia. Went to school in Texas."

"Why are you going on this little trip?"

Chris laughed. "Girl I did my senior thesis on the little sisters and Rapture. I'm going down there to get more information and finish my book."

"You're a writer?"

"Nah. I'm a historian, but only on new age stuff. Rapture was one of the biggest discoveries in my generation. A whole metropolis under the sea! Technological and scientific advancements unlike anything anyone had ever seen! It's amazing, cause I graduated last month, and this month we got clearance to go down. I can't wait."

They walked toward a large boat with several other men packing and loading various equipments. Melissa asked, "You do know that this trip is dangerous?"

"Of course it is. I recall the news you and the other girls told back when I was in middle school. All the stories you told. But you didn't tell them everything."

Melissa placed her bag on a pallet where Chris placed her other bag. "What do you mean?"

"You didn't say anything about Andrew Ryan or Frank Fontaine; to name a few."

Melissa glared at the young man, shocked. "How…"

"Its okay, girl. I got my info for my book from a few research teams that went down to the city. Some of them went to jail when they came up. You remember?"

"Yeah. They were blamed for killing their coworkers. Something happened down there and they wouldn't talk about it." A haunting feeling came over Melissa and she thought that perhaps this wasn't such a good idea.

"That was back in the 80s. If we find anything down there now, we should be okay. They went down without any knowledge of what they were getting into, but we have you and me."

A man atop the boat shouted. "Eh! Stop chatting her damn ear off and get back to work! Lazy kid."

"I'm no kid, you screwy brit!" Chris shouted back. He looked at Melissa and smiled. "That's Desmond. We call him D. But I think he's just a crazy old white man."

"Got it." Melissa followed Chris onto the ship and began to help loading equipment. The boat was somewhat crowded but mostly with dock hands who were not going to be shipping out to sea.

Desmond, the crew chief of the team, was a forty year old ex British SAS operative. He saw a lot of combat during the early years of Operation Desert Storm. Desmond was among one of the many British Special Forces operatives that went in to Iraq and eliminate Scud missile launch platforms. During a similar raid in 93, Desmond's SAS team was dropped into a selected hot spot but missed their drop coordinates by five miles. This put them too close to combat zones and they had to retreat. Desmond was shot in the shoulder and pulled out of active duty. By the time his wounds were completely healed Desert Storm was over and SAS forces were pulled or 'refurbished' for different duties. Nearing the age of forty, Desmond decided to retire. Post war stress left him in shambles and eager to fight, so he sold his skills however he could.

Another man on the yacht, Greg, was a middle aged white man, with nearly twelve years of scuba and undersea cave diving experience. His Australian accent could be heard from anywhere on the boat. He was also an avid engineer in underwater submersibles.

By evening Jason had returned with a truck load of extra gear and ammo. Jason, the leader, was a news reporter looking for his big break. His life was always full of adventure, and traveling, yet he had not found a story that could place him within the echelon of late night news.

"Chris!" Jason shouted as he jumped on the boat. "Did you set the course?"

"I did that a week ago, man!" Chris shouted back from the upper level of the yacht. "Did you get the papers?"

"Yes."

"Cool!" Chris shouted. He and Greg bumped elbows and started the motors.

Greg shouted, "I'll get us underway soon as you load that last freight."

Jason walked aboard as the deck hands hefted the supplies. "Ah, Melissa. Glad you could make it."

"I have my doubts." Melissa said. "Is this it?"

"Six people are easier to track then twenty." Jason said.

"I only see us five."

"Mike, my camera man, he's on his way."

"Should have figured you would be taking a camera man."

Jason stood beside Melissa and smiled. "You really look good today. Glowing."

"Flattery isn't needed. I'm already on the boat."

Jason laughed. "We'll forgive a man for trying to woo a lady."

Chris shouted from upstairs. "I call first on that, Jason, wait your turn."

"Really?" Jason asked Melissa.

"He said a few nice things this morning." Melissa smiled.

Jason chuckled. "Anyway, thanks again for coming. It means a great deal to us."

"Like I said, I'm having doubts." Melissa sat on the side of the boat and looked out over the harbor.

"You know its going to be dangerous. But we'll take our time, keep our eyes sharp and we stick together. Besides, there are four other teams that have already gone down. Lucky pricks got there hands on passes before the sanction was lifted."

"What are you looking to find down there?"

"Anything, and everything. Also… nothing." Jason smiled. "Its as if someone built a new Rome, accept it's a few hundred feet underwater."

Greg jumped down from the top level. "It's a marvel of engineering, lass. The notion that something like this was created under the eyes of the world leaders and none of them knew about it is staggering."

From the control deck, Chris added. "Were talking about the forties, fifties and sixty, man. Korea, early Vietnam, building feud with Cuba."

Jason chimed in. "And despite all of this, Andrew Ryan hired enough people and bought enough material to build a city… underwater! How could anyone miss the materials he bought? Where was the KGB and the CIA or even the FBI? Stuff like this does not happen without world leaders knowing about it."

With that another man stumbled onto the yacht with crash cases and duffle bags. "About time Mike." Jason shouted. "You got everything?"

"Yeah!" Said the young black man. He was toned and fit, and looked to be around the same age as Chris.

"Greg, lets go!" Jason shouted.

Greg climbed to the Yacht's controls as Jason, and Mike untied the ship from the port. Chris quickly began to tie down the last of gear while Melissa watched and pondered what she was getting herself into.

I'm I really doing this? She asked herself.

- - - - - - - -

It was late in the evening before Greg decided to calm the engines mighty roar. They had been going full throttle for nearly six hours, but Chris assured them all that they weren't even half way.

"Exactly where are we going?" Greg asked. "I mean, the chart simply stops in the north Atlantic."

Chris sighed loudly. "Told you, man. It's off the coast of Iceland. No telling where it will be when we get there. I have the coordinates but I have no visual cue."

"A lighthouse." Melissa yawned as she put her feet up on the table. "Surprised you didn't know that, Chris."

"Nobody said anything about a lighthouse?" Chris thought. "That far off coast, someone would see it."

Jason added. "I'm sure they turned the light off, to keep uninvited guests away. Remember that the powers of three governments are fighting for possession of this place. It'll be hard to spot at night." Jason coughed. "How are we on fuel?"

Greg put his legs on the table with Melissa. "Plenty in the tank and lots of reserve. I estimated the distance and bought one half canister more. Plenty for there and back. Bout three days give or take. We're in the NAC, so we'll save a lot of fuel this way."

"NAC?" Melissa asked.

"North Atlantic Current. But better know as the Gulf Stream. We'll ride this baby for a few hours, then skip on over to Iceland."

"Why not fly to Iceland?"

Everyone was quiet as Desmond spoke. "We can't. Trust me. Flying into Iceland would be… bad."

Melissa wanted to press the question harder as it seemed insane to cross the Atlantic in a Yacht. Though capable, the large Yacht would be tossed in even the mildest of the Atlantic storms. But she simply stood and moved toward the ships interior. She walked into the kitchen and poured a cup of sup before moving down to her bunk. Inside was Mike, checking his VHS camcorders and his state of the art Mini Disk camcorder.

"How's the soup?" Mike asked as he angled the small Sony camera at Melissa.

"Are you recording me?"

"It's my job, just as well start here. Sort of a 'before and after' type thing." He chuckled. "So, how's the soup?"

"It's good. Turkey noodle?"

"Yeah, made it myself. I double as a chef." Mike smiled. "How do you feel about going back, after thirty five years?"

Melissa smiled as she crossed her legs and spooned a bit of soup. She put the mug of soup on a table and looked at the camera. "Terrified."

- - - - - - -

A couple of days passed and they arrived at the coordinates. The night was seemingly quite as the small yacht drifted in silence. The sound of ocean waves lapping at the hull was practically the only sound registering. Melissa stood at the back of the boat, peering through binoculars and looking for anything that would help them find the entrance. Chris and Greg sat at the controls and looked forward and to the left and right, while Jason and Desmond stood at the nose.

Mike, holding his larger VHS camcorder and a small night vision lens enhancement, walked between the crew and recorded what he could. Everyone was using night vision binoculars to help, but still there was no sign of a large light house.

"Sun's coming up soon." Greg shouted from his perch. "Maybe we'll get luckier with the daylight."

"Chris, are you sure these are the coordinates?" Jason stated.

"Yeah man." Chris sighed. "Even that damn GPS thing you bought says so. I still trust Greg's navigation."

Greg laughed. "Thanks mate. But GPS is the future, weather we old school cubs like it or not. Still, I'd rather plot my course the old fashion way."

"Got something!" Melissa shouted from the back of the ship. "Uh… eight o'clock. A large object in the distance."

Everyone turned and saw it, and it was just as she had said; an object in the distance. "Greg, start her up and take it slow." Jason gleefully said.

"Alright, mate."

The boat turned and made its way toward the object. Chris stated, "This is like Stargate. You know, how they finally found out how to make it work but then they were all nervous about gong through it. That's how I feel right now."

Greg shook his head, "That was a really bad movie, mate."

"No it wasn't. It had entertainment value. And it was new for its time."

"Jurassic Park had more shock value than Stargate." Melissa chimed in.

"Please, Jurassic Park was an over hyped kids movie." Chris laughed. "An island full of dinosaurs and only five people died."

Jason added to the conversation as he peered into his binoculars. "So wouldn't you say that this is more like Jurassic Park? Going into an unknown territory that we think is safe, only to find that it is …" He dared to not finish, and everyone understood why. Could it be that they would end up just like the few unlucky visitors to Jurassic Park?

Chris cut the silence. "Now you all feel me, when I say Stargate and not Jurassic Park."

"Let's just hope we don't get trapped like in Stargate." Melissa said as the booming view of a large lighthouse on a rocky cove sat isolated in what felt like the middle of nowhere. "Jason, didn't you say there were other teams here?"

"Should be. Why?"

"Where are there boats?" Melissa sighed.

The sound of a gun clips metallic slide echoed behind everyone as Desmond strapped on his pistol and rifle. "Well if we're doing this, we best get going." Desmond placed a pistol in Melissa's hand with four extra clips. "No how to shoot that?"

"Safety off, aim at bad guy."

"Perfect." He moved to the others.

"She's right." Greg added. "I don't see any other boats. We can't be the first ones here."

"Maybe they left." Chris nervously added.

"Don't be silly." Jason sounded. "After only two or three days here? It would be a waste of there investments."

"Anchor down." Greg shouted as he jumped over the side. He swam to the artificial reefs and tied on the moor lines to the newly rebuilt dock. "The whole thing is fake! He shouted to the yacht as everyone watched him slap the stone looking metal. "Barely any rust." Greg dug into the dock and pulled as best he could until the boat was close enough to the dock that everyone could climb off.

Desmond was off first. "You all stay here, I'll go up and scan the entrance." He ran up the winding staircase and examined the entrance into the bathysphere room. After a few minutes he walked back. "Looks clear, but that guy who build this place had a real nasty obsession with theatrics. Statues of himself are everywhere."

"Let's go in then." Chris started, but Melissa jumped in front of everyone and blocked the path up the dock and the stairs.

"Not yet!" She ordered. "First, you all need to understand the environment in case there are… things, still alive down there."

"Shouldn't you have told us the prep course before we got off the boat, love?" Desmond huffed.

"Secretly, I hoped we wouldn't find it." Melissa stated. "But we have time, it isn't going anywhere."

Jason stepped forward. "She's right. This is why we brought her and we agreed to navigate this place slow." He turned to Melissa and nodded. "Alright, tell us everything."

**To be continued... **


	3. Chapter 3

**III. "The Abyss" was about history.**

The group unloaded their equipment from the boat onto rugged carts that they could pull behind them. As they worked, Melissa told them the 'rules' as she saw them.

"I have no doubts that the Big Daddies are still walking about, fixing and repairing the city. Basically with them, it is look but don't touch. Big Daddies run the show, they have nothing to fear… but if you attack, they will kill you. Splicers, if there are any, can basically be described as drug addicts. They will do anything to get there hands on Adam or some Eve."

Desmond cut in. "Will they ignore us as well?"

Chris chuckled. "Man, you never been around a crack head that hasn't had a fix, have you? The Splicers are probably the worst thing down there. They'll attack us as soon as they see us. If there are any, anyway."

Melissa nodded. "Right. But you have to understand, the hierarchy that was present is no longer there."

Jason lowered a box onto the cart and looked at Melissa. "Hierarchy? You mean Ryan?"

"No, I mean Fontaine. Andrew Ryan was basically a figure head, but he cut himself off from the people during the war."

Chris cut in. "You see, Ryan was the boss, and the people listened to him. But there was a civil war down there and some of the people followed Atlas, best known as Frank Fontaine. The splicers obeyed whoever was in power and could give them the Adam they wanted. The drug addicts did whatever the dealer said."

"When Ryan was in charge, they obeyed Ryan." Melissa grunted as she placed the last box on the cart. "When Fontaine was in charge, they obeyed Fontaine. But that structure ended when Jack took over."

"Jack?" Greg asked as he pulled on a vest.

Chris cut in. "Oh yeah! Jack was … uh… damn. Jack was the guy who killed Fontaine and Ryan. He was pretty bad ass!"

"No. He wasn't." Melissa sighed. "He was broken, a man with nothing of his own. A puppet. Frank Fontaine sent him away, only to make him return and help him take over. Jack was Andrew Ryan's unclaimed child. After killing Ryan, Fontaine betrayed Jack and tried to kill him, but Jack escaped and we, my Sisters and I, helped Jack fight back. He killed Fontaine, and freed … most of us, to the surface. At least that's the simple version."

"Most of you?" Chris cut in, almost shocked. "You mean there were more Little Sisters?"

"Not everyone wanted to leave with Jack. Some wanted to stay with Bridgette."

Chris leaned in close and was writing notes on his pad. "Doctor Tenenbaum?" Mike walked around the group with his camera recording every image, reaction and word.

"Yeah. She… made us who we are, yet she later regretted her decisions and found a way to cure us. But she was only one woman and there were hundreds of us. That was why she initially sided with Jack when he first arrived, hoping that he would… assist her."

Melissa continued to talk as they pulled the two heavy carts toward the Bathysphere entrance. They pulled the carts inside just as the sun began to rise on the horizon. Desmond tossed flares inside and began to light up the Bathysphere's main room.

Jason whistled as he looked the room over, but then turned to Melissa. "So, Jack, Ryan's bastard child…"

"Never call him that!" Melissa stormed toward Jason, gripped his bullet proof vest and pinned the man to the wall. "He saved our lives down here, and you will respect that!"

"Okay, okay!" Jason shouted.

Chris grabbed Melissa gently and pulled her back. "He doesn't know anything, Melissa. Chill girl."

Melissa backed off as Desmond chuckled at the site. "Jack, is the only father like figure we had beside Mr. Bubbles…umm, the Big Daddies, I mean. When he left with us, Bridgette was really the only power in control. She set about to fix things, but seeing that the Splicers still roamed, I'm sure she couldn't do much. She was too ashamed to come to the surface with us. After all, she found and made Adam. Rapture's fall could be partially her blame. But Jack, he only wanted to belong. He saved us. He was our angel." Melissa lowered her head and smiled as the memories of seeing Jack healing her.

Chris commented as he pushed one of the carts near the Bathysphere. "Yo, the Little Sister I interviewed, Kelly, she called the Big Daddies the same thing; Mr. Bubbles. She did it unconsciously. What's up with that?" He took out his notepad and waited for Melissa to reply.

"That's who he was to us. Mr. B… was everything in the eyes of young girls who had no one to protect them. Men and woman that we once knew as mothers and fathers were now our enemies. We carried the Adam that they wanted and they were going to kill us to get it. But Bubbles, Mr. B, he protected us. My champion." Melissa smiled again, her mind racing back to those days as a child when her gladiator was at her call.

Desomond said. "Alright, so basically things could be different? We don't know who's in 'control' down there and the Splicers may be dead or thriving. We could be welcomed guests or territory invaders." He picked up his M16 assault rifle with a modified stock and silencer, and stepped into the Bathysphere. "First team will be a recon group before we bring down the supplies. Greg, Melissa, you two with me. Jason, Chris and Mike will stay here to watch the gear until we get back. Then we'll bring down the carts and supplies and setup a base of operations before we go spelunking."

"No way you leaving me behind." Chris shouted.

Desmond looked at him sternly. "You want to live down here than you better follow orders, kid. You'll get down there when I say so. Melissa, let's go. Safety off and be ready for anything."

Melissa and Greg stepped into the Small circular Bathysphere and looked around. The submersible had been updated with more modern electronics, but it was still the same classic design. Melissa pulled down the lever and the door closed. As the bathysphere descended into the water, a screen rolled down over the front window, but as quickly as it came down it rolled back up.

"That was odd." Desmond smirked.

Greg and Melissa agreed. They looked out the front portal as their tiny ride traversed over the rocky underwater terrain. They saw fish and crabs and starfish and sharks as they made their way, but as they crossed a ridge they were greeted by the lights of the city of Rapture. Numerous tall structures, under water walkways, buildings, and flashing neon signs sat before them.

Desmond was shocked into silence.

Greg gasped and looked around like a child on Christmas morning. "I can't believe how blooming big the city is! I mean, my God mate! It could take weeks to see it all!"

Melissa smiled. "It's like going to the ocean floor and finding a spaceship with intelligent life."

Desmond leaned closer to the window. "You talkin' about the Abyss, now?"

"I thought the Abyss was about history?" Greg asked.

"I thought it was about deep sea exploration." Melissa laughed.

Greg added. "Nah, that movie was clearly about the foolishness of humanities past and how we're destroying the earth."

Melissa pulled out her pistol and turned off the safety as the bathysphere docked inside the Bathysphere station. "I think we clearly didn't see the same movie."

Desmond stepped toward the door. "The international release of the Abyss wasn't as edited as the American release." The door opened. "Stay tight on my ass. Scan left and right as we exit." Desmond stepped through the door, his rifle aimed forward as his eyes raced around the room. The Bathysphere station was in pristine condition and the lights of the room were all working. Maps laid out paths to and from various different regions of the city, while soft music played throughout the station. Overhead hung a clean and undamaged sign which read, 'Welcome to Rapture'.

Melissa was obviously stunned. "This is not what I expected to see."

Greg asked, "What do you mean?"

"It's clean. Everything is clean and fixed. When I left here it was a war zone."

Desmond moved forward to the main receiving level and spotted several large containers and still lit cigarettes burning in an ash tray. "We aren't alone." He whispered. "Eye's sharp." They moved to another area of the receiving station and as they stepped into the clearing they heard a shout.

"Freeze! Drop your weapons!" Desmond spun around, gun level, and saw four armed men standing in defendable positions. They were completely flanked.

"Nuts." Desmond huffed. "They look like Splicers to you?"

"No." Melissa whispered. "Splicers would have simply killed us. They look like mercenaries, like you."

"Yeah, I thought the same thing." Desmond sighed. He lowered his gun and raised his arms. Melissa and Greg did the same.

One of the men ran forward and kicked the guns away. "ID! Now!"

Everyone who visited Rapture needed to have a valid ID, Passport, and their pass into Rapture, it was the law. The man looked the ID and Rapture pass over. "They're clean."

The lead man exhaled loudly and stepped into clear view. Unlike the others he was not wearing mercenary gear. Instead he was wearing camouflage, a badge and a hat. "Corporal Bailey, United States Army." He lowered his gun and looked at the IDs. "Sorry about the unfriendly greeting, but when I see weapons and a tight formation, instincts kick in. Don't know why you would come down here looking for a fight. These IDs check out on my computer and you guys will be clear to do as you please."

Desmond and the others lowered their arms and relaxed. Desmond said, "Didn't know the US was running the show."

Bailey looked confused. "We aren't. But we are the only ones who put up the money to secure the property; at least this level and the dock. A few groups have ventured deeper into the city, but we haven't heard from them for a few hours now." Bailey motioned for everyone to pick up there guns as he walked toward a make shift office and begin to input their names and ID numbers into the computers. "It may take a while for us to get a response from the database. Satellite uplink is slow down here."

"They went in a few hours ago and you aren't concerned?" Melissa asked.

"Not my problem. By gaining this Pass to Rapture, you put your life in your own hands."

Greg added. "We have more people upstairs."

"Bring them down if you want. I'll need to check their ID all the same."

"How much have you seen?" Melissa asked. "Of the city, I mean."

"This station and the next group of suites. I'm not going any further until the coast is clear." Bailey stated with a chuckle. "I'm no explorer, and those Damn Big Daddies scare the shit out of me."

"The Big Daddies are still roaming." Greg said with a sigh of relief. "I was really hoping to see one!"

"You'll see plenty." Bailey said. "And when you do, you'll understand why I choose to stay here."

Desmond stepped forward. "Greg, go top side and bring down Jason with one cart. After they are down, tell Mike and Chris to follow the last cart."

"Chris isn't going to like that." Desmond chuckled as he ran toward the Bathysphere.

"Chris can kiss my ass." Desmond stated. He then turned to Bailey.

Bailey asked in a curious tone, "Why didn't my men tell you that the station was clear?"

"Men? What men?" Desmond countered.

Bailey stood from the small desk and glared at Desmond strongly. "You should have been greeted by two more of my men, prior to coming down."

"Why do you think we came down in a breach formation?" Desmond said. "There is nothing on the surface accept the dock. Your men aren't there."

"What?" Bailey stated. "Myrick, Jones, get top side and see to Hudson and Smith!"

"Yes Sir!" One of the men stated.

Bailey turned to Desmond. "Explain! There should have been three boats at the dock, a small freight ship a few hundred yards away, and at least one sea plane!"

"We wouldn't have missed that." Melissa added. "We thought it was weird that no ships were top side."

The two men jumped into the bathysphere with Greg and silently went to the surface. At the top they were greeted by Mike, Jason and Chris.

Chris was eager to jump in the Bathysphere, but Greg quickly told him the plan. "Damn that!" Chris screamed. "D don't like black people! Racist Brit!"

The two mercenaries ran out the door of the Bathysphere station, ignoring the group. Jason asked, "Who are they?"

"Hired security. It's weird, mate. They don't know their ships are gone. Anyway me and you are taking a cart down. We'll send the …" The explosion rocked the light house just enough for the Bathysphere to bob in the water beside them. Chris and Greg staggered, nearly falling, but Jason and Mike held their balance. "What the hell!"

Jason screamed, "It was outside!" They ran up the twisting ramp to the Lighthouse exit and watched as the two Mercenaries staggered to their feet at the edge of the dock, but what truly shocked them were the flames boiling out of the sinking yacht.

"What in the hell did you two do to my yacht!" Jason screamed as he ran toward the men.

"It blew up when we got close. Nearly killed us! Who set explosives on the ship?"

"No damn body!" Jason screamed in retaliation. "That was our only ride out of here!"

Chris and Greg stood in shock as the ship sank out of view, leaving only a quickly fading cloud of black and white smoke. "That solves the mystery of why no ships are here. Someone sunk them."

"Not possible!" One of the mercenaries shouted. "There were two guards up here; Hudson and Smith."

"Do you see any damn guards?" Chris yelled.

The other mercenary sighed loudly. "And the freighter is gone too. What in the hell is going on?"

"You did this!" The first Mercenary screamed. "You sank our ships before you came down!"

"What?" Jason questioned.

"You're insane, man." Chris added. "Something is wrong in your head!" The two mercenaries raised their guns and pointed them at Jason, Greg, Mike and Chris.

"Alright boys, we'll get to the bottom of this. Get back into the bathysphere, we're all going down, now!"

"Don't point that damn gun at me!" Chris screamed.

Mike lowered his camera. "Calm down, Chris. They're angry and confused. We'll figure it out when we get down low."

- - - - - - - -

"All we have is your word!" Bailey shouted at the six strangers that had just landed on his guard detail. "I've lost two men, and three ships, a freighter and a sea plane! You were the last ones on the surface."

Desmond stepped forward. "Captain Desmond Hillard, British Special Air Service, retired. My rank may not mean anything to you, but I will say that my word is my life. Upon arriving at the dock we found no sign of activity, or any ships nearby. The first sign that anyone was here was when we first saw you."

Bailey looked at Desmond. "When and where did you get your feet wet?"

"You name it, chances are I was there. Been in the service ever since my mother stopped wiping my ass. Shut up, Chris." Sure enough, Chris had wanted to comment on the statement, but Desmond spoke before Chris had a chance to speak, shocking the young man into silence. "Last tour was Desert Shield and Desert Storm."

"What are you doing tied up with this shady group?"

"Try retiring from an elite unit and the best job you can get is training the next group of the worlds finest. I love my job, and my country, but when you have an itch you have to scratch it. I took some leave and signed on to protect these egg heads."

"And of course I can't verify your story." Bailey moaned in thought. "So if it wasn't you, then who sunk your ship and maybe did ours?"

Desmond looked to Melissa and everyone followed his glare. Melissa felt the need to speak. "I guess we should… maybe find out who's in charge down here."

"No one's in charge lady." Bailey stated. "Accept the Big Daddies."

Melissa smiled. "Someone blew up our ship right under our noses. But they made sure we weren't on the ships, so obviously they want us to stay here a while. Perhaps permanently. Whoever planned this, trap, obviously wants to be in Rapture… and thus, doesn't want anyone to leave." Melissa started toward the lounge of the Bathysphere station and looked the room over. It was also repaired. No damage, no trash, nothing. It was as if the whole facility had just been opened.

"Did your men clean up here?"

Bailey replied. "No. It's been like this since we got here."

Desmond added. "Doesn't look like any war happened here."

Greg said. "Do the Big Daddies come here? Maybe they fixed it up."

"No." Said a Mercenary. "They don't come any further than the Kashmir Restaurant, one floor up." The group examined the area and placed their carts near the walls.

Desmond huffed. "Base camp is here." He looked at Bailey. "We're on frequency 45.5 on the radio. You and your men should stay here in case anyone else comes down. Warn them about a possible saboteur. And find out if we can all get a ride out of here. This is no longer a simple field trip."

"Fine by me." Bailey stated as he began to walk away. "If you see any of the other groups, tell them to be careful and to check in on the same frequency." Just as Bailey turned away from them, a loud thud echoed on the concrete. The sound reverberated throughout the room. Bailey and the mercenaries looked around.

"What the hell is that?" Greg questioned as the sound came closer.

Desmond lifted his rifle to the ready, but Melissa softly calmed him. She smiled. "You'll see." Around the corner, upstairs from the elevator, approached a giant in metal deep sea gear.

"A big Daddy!" Chris wowed. His eyes filled with awe and fear as the footsteps of the massive thing walked toward the railing. The big daddy looked over the edge, its internal lights glowing yellow, and its head stopped moving as it looked at Melissa. The big daddy then began to walk again and moved toward the elevator. The door opened for it and it descended to the lower level.

Bailey stepped back. "What the hell? They never come down to this level. Shit! Don't make it angry! A few scientists warned us to never shot at them. They are harmless if you leave them be."

Desmond replied. "We know. We've been briefed." But even he was finding himself backing away from the elevator. In fact everyone was backing away. Their curiosity still cautioned by a little fear. But Melissa never moved. The door opened and the big daddy stepped forward. The yellow lights of its helmet shinned upon Melissa's brightly smiling face.

Bailey shouted out. "Give it some space, girl!"

Chris shouted, "Shut up! Leave her alone!" Mike was filming the scene, while Jason and Greg simply watched in silent awe. Desmond stood in a frozen shock.

Melissa smiled as the Big Daddy placed his hand on top of her head and patted her twice. A deep rumble filled its suit, as if it were speaking.

Greg watched and said, "After all this time… can it still remember?"

The big daddy lowered his hand and reached out with its open gloved palm; it was asking for Melissa's hand.

Melissa looked at the glove and a tear rolled from her eye. "Hello Mr. Bubbles. I've missed you to." She placed her hand into the gloved palm. The size difference was still amazing, even though she was no longer the tiny little girl who once ran around Rapture in torn and tattered clothes. The big daddy softly moaned, and as gentle as a parent holding a newborn, it closed its hand around hers. It knelt before her, in a saddened motion, as it softly moaned a long quiet wail.

"What's it doing?" Jason asked.

Melissa placed her free hand to the top of the Big Daddy's helmet. "He's crying. He's very happy to see me."

Bailey stood in quiet awe, and then suddenly found that he had to ask an important question. "Lady, who the hell are you?"

"I'm just a woman who grew up in the mean city of New York, after leaving behind the memories of a life I couldn't forget." She turned to the others, putting her back to the Big Daddy. It stood up behind her as she talked to Bailey. "My name is Melissa, and I was once a Little Sister."

**To be continued…**


	4. Chapter 4

**IV: Something wicked this way…**

Three days. Three days of relentless exploration into the massive underwater city of Rapture. For some, it was the find of the century. For others, it was a hell of humidity and cold silence.

Melissa had informed the crew that Rapture had been repaired to its former beauty. Yet she still would not allow anyone to go near Point Prometheus, nor did she mention it to any of them. During their travels, the group came across the research teams that had arrived before them. A vast majority of the groups had assembled in the Medical Pavilion, where scientists of Rapture treated the physical mutations caused by the prolonged use of Adam. Melissa was shocked to see that the blood soaked surgical wards and offices, were now pristine and clean.

In Arcadia, the life blood of Rapture's air and food supply, a miniature forest had grown in man's absence. It was full of delicious fruits, wild birds, insects of various degree, and gorgeous wild flowers. Arcadia was its own eco system. Not only was it producing more oxygen then Rapture needed, it was creating natural foods in a vast abundance.

However, nothing shocked Melissa more then when she arrived at Apollo Square on the fourth day. Traveling with Jason, Desmond and Mike, Melissa stepped off of the functioning train at the central station, and her heart skipped a beat.

"Who in the hell are they?" Jason gasped as they were greeted by the sight of hundreds of people.

"Welcome to Apollo Square, weary travelers." An old man wearing a long trench coat said. He ran toward the station and bowed to the group of four. "I am the manager of Artemis Suites. There is no need for you explorers to rest in make shift camps. We have rooms available at very reasonable cost."

"What are all of you people doing here?" Melissa asked. She scanned around the main terminal as people talked amongst themselves, sold goods and foods, and even children were at play.

"What do you mean? We've always been here." The man smiled. "Some of the people you see just recently arrived to live amongst us."

Desmond cut in, his hand tightly gripping his side arm, but he didn't pull it from the holster. "So some of you have always been down here? Never left?"

"Correct. I was but a young man when Rapture first saw its crisis, but I survived and so did many others."

Melissa asked. "You have been here since Ryan's death?"

"Yes. And that fool Fontaine."

Desmond stepped in front of Melissa and the others. His eyes easily told them that they should leave. The others agreed.

Melissa smiled at the man. "Sorry, we're just passing through. We'll be moving on to other sites yet unseen. But, is this the only place where people are living?"

"No." The old man replied with a smile. "There are others living in Olympic Heights. But you'll see that living there can be pricey. My rates are much cheaper."

"Why aren't there any people in Arcadia, or the Medical Pavilion?" Jason asked. "Even the Farmers Market was empty."

The old man smiled. "When the Big Daddies say that we can go there, we will." He turned and walked away.

"What the hell was that supposed to mean?" Desmond questioned to Melissa.

Melissa was already scanning the station. She then looked toward Artemis Suites and the walkway toward Olympic Heights. "There are no big daddies here."

The train pulled up behind them and they all climbed on board. Several scientists smiled as the got off. "Not staying here?"

Melissa shook her head, "no. Are you?"

"We've been living here for two weeks. Best rates in all of Rapture."

Desmond asked, "did you boys hear that our boats were sunk?"

"Yeah. So what?" One of the younger men laughed. "Why leave? There's nothing to be afraid of here. No Saddam. No war. No rising gas prices. Hell, all we have to do is pay a small tax and respect the Big Daddies." The scientists laughed as they walked into the crowd of residents.

Mike lowered his camera. "What the hell is going on down here? Did he really say he wants to stay?"

Desmond added, "And they said they've been here for two weeks. Rapture wasn't supposed to be open until we arrived four days ago."

Jason looked at Melissa. "How can people still be here after the war with Ryan and Fontaine? Normal people! I thought the only thing left down here were…"

"Splicers." Melissa said as the door to the train closed. "This district is thriving with splicers. Every last one of them… but they look normal."

"But I thought they were supposed to be crazed psychopaths?" Jason asked.

Melissa tapped her thumb to her cheek. "Not only that, but why did that old man seem to think that the Big Daddies are running things? That makes no sense."

Desmond pulled up his radio. "Chris, you copy?"

"Yeah, D. What's up?"

"We're heading back to the farmers market. Meet us at Worley's Winery, as usual. We need to talk. Bring Greg with you."

"Ten four good buddy."

Desmond pocketed the radio. "Something weird is going on. Best we put the pieces together before we get in too deep."

Mike sat on a bench as the train lurched forward. "Yeah, we'll I would rather hear from Bailey that he has secured as ship. I'd like to know that we have a ride out of here."

A few Minutes later within the established meeting ground of the Farmers Market. Worley's Winery was fully stocked as several mercenaries tossed back wine and cold beer. A few scientists and specialists socialized as well. The room was usually quite popular amongst the visiting groups that were cataloging or studying the city and its mysteries, and at the end of the day this was the normal meeting space for everyone; except Bailey.

Greg cheered loudly as Melissa and the group walked back into the room. "Bout damn time, mate! Thought me and Chris were going to have to get drunk on our own." He laughed.

Desmond, with a stern glare, sat at the table with them. "Slow down, alright? We got serious talks we need to carry and I don't need you so drunk you can't focus."

Chris lowered his beer. "What's up? You boys look like you seen ghosts."

"No." Jason added. "Splicers."

Greg nearly spat out his mouth full of beer.

Chris spoke on his behalf. "You mean those crazy mo'fo's with knives and guns and twisted faces?"

Melissa took Chris' cup and down the last of it. "The same. Yet they weren't crazy, had no knives, and their faces weren't twisted."

Mike added. "They were damn near polite." He stood from the chair. "This rounds on me." He walked toward the bar and grabbed a few drinks from the bartender.

"Any word from Bailey?" Jason asked.

Chris shook his head. "Nah. He won't come this far into the Rapture; still scared of the big daddies. But he hasn't radioed me either."

"Okay." Melissa sighed. "First off; why the hell are the splicers acting so… calm? Second; the deal with the Big Daddies running the show. And on top of that… why the hell is the place so damn clean?"

Everyone lowered their heads, pondering the questions. Chris asked, "what do you mean the Big Daddies are running the show?"

Desmond answered. "The splicer we met said that the Big Daddies won't let them leave Apollo Square; one of the resident districts."

Melissa added, "but the Big Daddies aren't in Apollo Square. At least I didn't see any." She scratched her hair as Mike sat down beside her with both hands full of beers. He passed them out and smiled as Melissa took hers. "Mike recorded it."

Mike looked curious and watched as Melissa picked up his camcorder and rewound the tape. She then looked into the view hole to see where they encountered the old man.

Mike laughed and smiled as he opened a tiny side door on the camera. "LCD screen. This camera is state of the art!" Everyone gathered around the small square screen attached to the camera as Melissa played back the old man and the people in Apollo Square. When it was over, Mike closed the screen and powered it off.

Greg chuckled. "Looked like a bunch of old normal people to me."

Chris agreed.

Desmond took a drink and added, "But they've been here since the beginning. Since the war in Rapture. I assume the kids were born down here. And we haven't seen them because those Big Daddies won't let them leave."

"Why won't they let them leave?" Jason questioned allowed. "The Daddies don't care about splicers or normal people right, so long as they don't get in their way?"

Melissa sulked back in her chair. "Daddies don't care." She agreed. "However, they are protectors originally. We'll need to go to…" She paused. "Anyway, it's weird."

Mike heard the pause. "Go where? You were about to say we need to go someplace?"

Melissa tried to avoid it. "No. It was nothing, I was thinking outloud."

Desmond smiled. "Come on, love. Don't hold out on us now. You have an idea."

Mike was the only one that noticed that Melissa put her hands under the table and was struggling not to tremble. He placed his hand on hers, under the table so that no one could see, and nodded toward her. "It's okay. We're in this together. No secrets."

Melissa looked up at him. She felt his hand upon hers and was taken back for a moment. She gathered herself and looked to everyone at the table. "Point Prometheus." She said with a sigh. "The Daddies were all conditioned and trained in Point Prometheus. At a section called Failsafe Armored Escorts. If we go there we should be able to find out what has changed."

Chris looked curiously at Melissa. "I've never heard of Point Prometheus. It wasn't on any of the maps. And none of the other little sisters I talked to mentioned it."

"They won't." Melissa added. "We all swore to never talk about it. But if we are going to find out what's going on down here… that's the best place to start."

Everyone went silent as Melissa grabbed her beer and walked away from the table. Chris stood to follow her, but Mike waved him off. "I got her."

"You slick ass." Chris huffed as he sat. "When did you step up to be her boo?"

"Shut up." Mike laughed. He grabbed his beer and followed Melissa as she walked out of the winery. "Hey!" He shouted to Melissa as she walked toward the access path which would lead her back to base camp near the Bathysphere station. She paused and looked at Mike as he approached. "You okay?"

"No." She simply stated.

"You want to talk?"

"No." She chugged the last of her beer, placed the empty glass on the bar near the winery exit and walked out the door. Mike followed.

"I'm not going to let you walk back by yourself." Mike followed her footsteps. But Melissa said nothing then entire walk back through Fort Frolic, into the Medical Pavilion and into the elevator down to their established camp.

Melissa walked toward her tent and paused. "Thanks for walking me."

"If you need to talk about it…"

"There are some things a child never wants to remember." She turned and looked at Mike. "I buried Prometheus in the darkest pit of my memories. The things I began to remember as I aged, the things they did in there, they should never be remembered."

"I understand." Mike said, but he knew he could never really fathom the nightmares in Melissa's mind. "We'll be careful, and if it's too much for you we can leave. But this could be our only way of finding a way out of this city. And no matter what, I'll be by your side."

"I know." She placed her hand to his face. Mike wasn't a young man, but he wasn't nearly as old as she was. Yet still, he was handsome and carrying, and Melissa had never known a man's earnest compassion. Melissa loved how her pale white hand contrasted with his dark brown skin. "Thank you for that." She turned and walked into her tent. "Tomorrow, I'll get one of the Big Daddies to lead us there. Tell the others to be ready first thing in the morning. Good night."

Mike watched her close the tarp on her tent and he sighed softly to himself. "Good night."

Mike walked back to the elevator and stood at the base as it lowered toward him. He pulled a small tape recorder from his pocket and rewound the mini cassette inside. He listened as it played back the last thing that Melissa said as she went to bed.

"_There are some things a child never wants to remember. I buried Prometheus in the darkest pit of my memories. The things I began to remember as I aged, the things they did in there, they should never be remembered."_

He turned if off and pulled the mini cassette from the recorder. He examined it closely and huffed. "I hate my job sometimes." He pulled out his radio. "Jason, copy?"

"Copy."

"She'll take us in the morning."

"It's about damn time. Good work."

"Her choice, not mine. I… I didn't have to force her."

"Even better." Jason replied on the radio. "With the news of all the horrors that went on down here, we'll finally be able to get the story of the millennium!"

"Yeah, whatever. Just make sure it's worth the shit we're putting this woman through."

"Come on, Mike. The hard part was blowing up the ship, and you did that without a hitch. Getting the full story about Rapture out of Melissa will be simple."

Mike paused. "How did you sink the other ships, before we got here?"

Jason chuckled over the line. "Mike my friend. I don't pay you enough to answer that."

To be continued…

* * *

Notes: It has just come to my attention that FanFictions has made some back end changes to their code. This is usually a good thing, but they have practically killed any options I have for creating "Scene Breaks". This small change has seriously hindered a lot of my prior stories as well as the current one. I am currently trying to find an alternate means of making this breaks without using a full horizontal line (above), as this full line seems to be too much of an eye sore in the middle of a chapter. Sorry for the inconvience.  
Also, this story currently has no set length, but I don't expect it to be more then 10 chapters. Enjoy.


	5. Chapter 5

**V: Turn coat**

Melissa didn't know if it was the beer or the environment, but she had a headache and it felt a lot like a hangover. She sat up and moaned as she opened her water bottle.

We should have stuck to our agreement not to drink anything that was down here. She thought to herself as she drank from her canteen. She stood up and began to dress, knowing that no matter how hard she complained the only thing that would cure her hangover would be blood flow, water and food. "Feed a hangover and let the body repair the damage." She said to aloud.

"Not so loud, love." Desmond groaned from the neighboring tent. He walked outside just as she did. "Your not the only one who over did it last night. You about to run?"

"Yeah. Join me?"

Desmond nodded as he stretched lightly. They were both in their forties, yet they were both in excellent athletic shape; Desmond, from his military SAS days, and Melissa because of the residual remains of the sea slug that once existed within her. Though the slug no longer gave her the craving to ingest Adam, its residual affects still provided her with incredible healing and great health; though nothing like the abilities she had before Jack safely removed the slug.

After a quick look at her digital watch, five in the morning, Melissa and Desmond began to jog around the Bathysphere station, into the Medical Pavilion and back. They made several laps and then stopped at base camp. Feeling a little better, Melissa sat and began to eat her morning food ration while Desmond did the same and unpacked his gear for the soon to come trip.

"I know it's a tough subject and all, but what's the mystery of this place we're going to?" Desmond asked.

Melissa lowered her head. "You'll find out when we get there."

"I'd like to know before then. I need to prep. Going into enemy territory without any recon is bad form."

"It's where I was made, trained, conditioned, tormented…" Melissa's breathing was becoming heavy, short and raspy.

"Okay… okay… calm down." Desmond said, placing a hand to her shoulder and rubbing it softly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up old feelings."

By now everyone was starting to crawl out of there tents, unaware of Melissa's soft outcry. They all silently ate as Melissa and Desmond worked on map and location of Point Prometheus.

After breakfast was done and everyone had grabbed their gear for the journey, the group set off for the next location. They would need to go through Apollo Square to reach the hatch that would open up to Point Prometheus, however when they arrived they found that the door was welded shut.

An older man, around the same age as the man who tried to offer them a room, came up to them through the crowd. "Trying to reach the Point Prometheus, eh?" The man slurred. He was clearly drunk, and it was only six in the morning. "You can't get through there. Them Big Daddies closed it off years ago. The only way to Prometheus is through Bathysphere nine."

"Nine?" Melissa asked the man. "But that's in …"

"That's right, sugar cakes." The old man laughed. "Hephaestus…"

Greg cut in. "The thermal energy station. We were there two days ago. I didn't see a Bathysphere station."

"You saw what the Big Daddies wanted you to see." The man smiled.

Again, there was the talk of the Big Daddies literally being in control. Melissa knew that the Big Daddies were the real power in Rapture, but their comments about them 'running the show' was only a phrase, and not meant to be taken seriously. But this was turning things differently. Were the Big Daddies some how gaining intelligence beyond their mental conditioning?

Melissa ignored the man and began to walk back to the train station. The group quietly followed. The trip to Hephaestus was short, only twenty minutes by train. The group walked out near the Central control station train station and quietly walked past the few scientist that were lingering about studying the machines and monitoring its output. Melissa remembered how Jack had literally destroyed the station in order to reach Andrew Ryan. But the Big Daddies, in there diligence, had completely restored the primary energy source for Rapture.

The group followed Melissa as she made her way through central control until they reached an area where six Big Daddies sat silently. Their helmet lights were off and they did not move.

A scientist came up behind them. "Don't go in there!" He shouted, startling everyone.

Desmond, always cautious, had pointed his rifle at the man, causing the scientist to back away. Desmond lowered the rifle. "You'd best watch yourself, friend."

Jason walked to the man. "What's wrong?"

"Those big daddies don't like people coming in here." He said. "They won't attack, but they will force you out… forcefully!"

"Melissa?" Greg asked.

"Yeah, they will do that to protect something, if they want to keep you away." Melissa walked into the room and began to walk between the big daddies resting positions. "Stay back until I say so."

The scientist watched nervously.

As she walked down the center, the Big Daddies' helmet lights began to glow yellow as if their power had been restored. Each one then took a step away from the wall, three to each side, and groaned happily at Melissa. She smiled at one of them, and patted his arm. Two big daddies became instinctively jealous, their helmet lights turned red, powered on the large drills attached to at the right wrist and stepped toward the big daddy that Melissa had singled out. Their steps were thunderous as they began to charge, but Melissa threw up her arms and stood between the big daddies and the one she had touched. They stopped instantly.

Melissa noticed that Desmond was aiming his gun at the big daddies. She looked at him and shook her head no. If he fired, all six would attack the team, and there would be no chance of escape. Desmond understood and lowered the rifle. Melissa then turned her attention back to the Big daddies.

"Be calm, Mr Bubbles. There's no need to fight over little me." Melissa softly said. The two big daddies calmed down, there helmet lights flickering back to a calming yellow, and then backed away. "Me and my friends need to pass. Can we go to Point Prometheus?"

Another Big daddy walked forward, and it was different than the other five. Its deep sea suit was plated with red and gold paint, its helmet had one visor with a yellow internal glow, and on its back was strapped both a drill and a massive rivet gun. It was not a Rosie model Big Daddy or a Bouncer model. This 'new' Big Daddy was a combination of the two. And as it came closer, Melissa could see that it had two flexible pipes, with chains attached, extending out of its back almost like wings.

It walked closer to Melissa and the other three Big Daddies backed away. It groaned loudly and knelt beside Melissa. It then looked to the team at the door and ground something different.

Melissa laughed. "No, they aren't a threat."

The big daddy then groaned again.

"Oh, the man in the jacket? He's not with us, that's why you've seen him before."

The scientist looked confused and realized that Melissa was talking about him.

Melissa looked toward the man. "You need to leave. He doesn't want you here."

"Who is she?" The man questioned to the group as he backed away. But no one answered. Chris simply waived as he left.

The group began to walk toward Melissa as she waived them forward. "Get in the Bathysphere." She said. The Big Daddies watched as they all passed. Melissa looked at he new Big Daddy. "What are you called, Mr B? You're different."

The Big daddy grunted softly and rubbed Melissa's shoulder. It then stood and walked back to its post beside the Bathysphere at the end of the station. Melissa followed him and asked, "can you lead us there?"

The big daddy simply grunted once as it stood in position. Melissa nodded and walked into the Bathysphere with the group.

Jason asked, "What did it say?"

"His name is Angel." Melissa replied softly. "And he says 'I' do not need and escort." The door closed and the submersible sank beneath the water line.

Everyone was nervous about talking to Melissa about the area they were about to enter, knowing full well that she went through a great deal of trouble to not talk about it, and that made the trip in the Bathysphere short and silent. Only the sound of the water and the engine played in the small round compartment.

When they reached the other side, Melissa stepped out first and calmed another six Big Daddies. And in this group was another Angel type. Melissa knew now that this was the one to talk to and to keep the others from becoming jealous.

"Hello. Me and my friends have come too…"

The big daddy groaned loudly and then pointed down the path toward Prometheus's entrance. She peered down the long tunnel and saw someone standing at the end. It was a woman and she was walking toward them. Desmond and the others stepped out of the Bathysphere, and the Big Daddy's watched them closely but left them alone.

Melissa stared at the woman for a great deal of time and could not tell who she was. She looked to be around Melissa's age and her hair was a radiant black that seemed to glow.

"Hello, I don't think we ever had the chance to meet." The woman said as she extended her hand toward Melissa. "My name is Karen - Karen Tenenbaum."

Melissa froze, her hand hanging at an awkward angle as she attempted to shake her hand, but hearing Karen speak her last name was beyond shocking. "Tenenbaum?"

Karen smiled and reached out further to take Melissa's hand. "Do not be alarmed." Karen said in a German accent. "Bridgette was not my real mother. Me and my sisters remained behind to help her rebuild Rapture, to fix the errors of her mistakes. I was a little sister, like you, but I did not return to the surface. I am one of many adopted daughters by mother. I assume you are one of the ones that left with Jack?"

Moving passed her stunned state, Melissa exhaled and felt as though she had been holding her breath the whole time. "Yes. I came to find out about the people in Apollo Square and the Big Daddies." She didn't mention the sinking ships. "I figured this would be a good place to start."

"Very well. Good. You and your friends shall come with me to my lounge and office. We will talk and enjoy some tea. Unless it is too early for you?"

"No. That will be fine." Melissa nodded to the group and they followed her deeper into the restored Point Prometheus. As they entered the Atrium and passed by additional Big Daddies, Melissa noticed that the sign for the 'Little Wonders' ward had been replaced. It was the sign that hung over the doors that led to the most horrifying place in her memories; the rooms where she was trained and conditioned to be a little sister.

"Recovery Ward?" Melissa asked as she read the new name.

"I thought it would be appropriate to call it something new, to erase the name that brought us so much pain." Karen replied.

Chris asked, "What was it before?"

Karen turned and smiled toward him. "I don't remember." Clearly a lie, but it was something she was not going to tell an outsider. Melissa understood and felt the same way, yet she knew eventually one of them would find a way to get her to talk about it.

Melissa then asked. "What is it for?"

"The splicers." Karen replied. "Those who have become too obsessed with Adam are brought here, if they can be persuaded, and we heal them."

"Heal them?" Melissa questioned. Behind her, she could hear Chris and Jason writing on their notepads. And then Mike walked to their side with his camcorder rolling.

Karen looked at Mike sighed loudly. "I knew it would only be a matter of time before the Paparazzi returned."

"Ah, no ma'am." Mike smiled. "I'm just a camera man."

Karen ignored him. "Yes, we heal them." They walked into the Mendel Library and made their way to the back offices where several other girls and younger men walked around reading, and writing at desks, and they all ignored Karen and her guests.

At the rear of the offices was Karen's room. There were many black and white pictures of Bridgette and numerous girls. Some of the pictures were of Bridgette in her later years while the young girls around her were now much older and even had children with them.

Karen noticed Melissa's curiosity at the photos. "Insemination." She said. "Some wanted children, so we used insemination procedures. We needed children if we were to continue to live here." Karen sat at her desk and motion for everyone to sit as well. She pressed a button on her desk. "Kate, would you bring some Tea for me and my guests?"

"Yes, mother." Came a reply.

Karen sat back and pulled her glasses to her face. "Now, we were talking about healing the splicers."

"Yes, how is that possible?" Melissa curiously stated as she sat in the seat closest to Karen. Desmond stood near the door, keeping an watch on everyone outside the office while Mike walked around the room with his camera recording. Everyone else sat and listened.

"Failsafe Armored Escorts." Karen stated. "We recondition the Splicers and give them a new purpose in life. They no longer feel the need to ingest Adam."

Melissa sat back in her seat.

"What is Failsafe Armored Escorts?" Greg asked.

"The big daddies." Karen answered.

Melissa then said. "The Angels. They are reconditioned splicers."

"Yes." Karen smiled. "They were too damaged to return to normal lives. This was the only thing that would help them. This gave them a new purpose and the suit preserves their lives."

"What about the people in Apollo Square?" Jason asked.

"Splicers who were not too far gone in there addiction. Using the same principle that Jack used to save us, we were able to reverse some of the side effects of early Adam addiction." Karen waved as a young woman walked into the office with a tray of tea cups and began to pass them out. "Those with the right will power and strength could over come the Adam after treatment. But those who could not, became our Big Daddies."

"Using Adam to heal Adam." Chris said softly. "But who heals them? Doesn't Adam need to be used by someone?"

Karen smiled. "Jack was not the only one who could resist the lure of Adam and its stem altering affects. When he left Rapture, he had no craving for the Adam. He used it to fight Fontaine and then he was done. But most people become addicted after only a few uses." Karen took her tea cup and smiled at her young daughter. "Thank you. You can go back to work." Chris's eyes lustfully followed the woman as she exited the room. "She's nineteen and single, if you are interested." Karen chuckled. "But only if you plan to take her from this place and give her a good home."

Chris smiled shyly. "Nah, I was just admiring her from a far."

Karen smiled. "I healed them. We sisters, because of our exposure to the Sea Slug, we can resist the temptation and stem alterations."

Jason quickly asked. "Do you have Adam? Can we see you use it?"

His enthusiasm sent a chill down Melissa's back. "Hey, 'Burke', calm down." She stated the name of the fictional character from Aliens.

"Burke?" Chris asked.

"Nothing." Jason laughed. "I was just…"

Melissa cut him off. "You promised we didn't come here for Adam."

"She says she can use it without side effects!" Jason snapped back. "This is the only chance we have to see it, to study it!"

Karen stood from her chair. "Adam is not a toy, sir. It is not to be used lightly. And I will not demonstrate something so that you can get your … story."

Jason stood up and smiled. "But you do have it? Can I at least see it?"

Melissa stood up beside him. "Karen, please ignore him. I'll be taking him topside, right now!" Melissa pulled out her radio transmitter from her bag. "Bailey, you copy?"

"Roger that."

"I'm bringing Jason and Mike back to the surface. I suggest for the safety of all the teams here, that he be banned from Rapture."

"Small problem with that, Melissa." Bailey said over the line.

Melissa looked at the radio as if she were actually looking at Bailey. "What?"

"Jason put forward more money then Army was ever willing to pay me. He can do whatever he wants." The channel went silent after a quick static chirp.

Jason smiled. "Desmond, please escort Melissa and Karen to safe place. Preferably where they can't get in contact with a big daddy."

Melissa turned and looked at Desmond. "Sorry lass. He's the boss." He flipped the safety off of his rifle and took aim. "Into the corner."

"He wait, what the hell?" Chis snapped.

Greg chimed in as well. "Jason, what the hell are you doing brother?"

"Getting my day in the lime light." Jason smiled. "Mike, find it."

Mike lowered his camera and could barely look into Melissa's eyes. He walked to Karen and looked her in the eyes. "Where's the Adam?"

Oddly, Karen smiled. "You're making a mistake." She turned and opened the safe behind her. "Please, don't take it." She continued to smile.

"Why did you open it?" Melissa yelled.

"I didn't sign on for this, Jason!" Chris shouted.

"Shut up!" Jason yelled. "Play your cards right and you'll be filthy rich when we get back to the mainland. Your book could be a New York Times best seller in a month with this story! All we need is the proof." He walked toward the small syringes and bottles of Adam. Various colors which seemed to glow from their own internal chemical reaction. "Beautiful." He said as Mike gave him a bottle of one of the many Plasmids and bottle of pure Adam. "Electrobolt." He smiled. "So long as I don't use it too much…"

"Jason, are you daft?" Greg shouted. "That stuff will warp you. Haven't you been listening?"

"This will give me the proof I need. The story I need!"

Karen yawned and leaned against the wall. "No … no… don't." She sarcastically whispered. Melissa looked at her, but Karen earnestly showed no concern.

Jason slammed the needle into his rest and inject the full contents into his blood stream. He then injected the half the bottle of Adam into his arm and began to convulse. Screaming as the Adam worked its course through his system, altering his DNA and his mind.

Jason collapsed in a ball of sweat as Mike ran to his side. Slowly he sat Jason up and checked his eyes. Jason quickly snapped to focus and stood up, feeling completely rejuvenated. "I feel incredible!" He looked at the sparkling blue glow that raced through the veins in his hand.

"What the hell, man?" Chris shook his head as he backed away from Jason and Mike. "What he hell is wrong with you people? This is wrong! That stuff is going to kill you!"

Jason smiled. "This can't kill me. It feels too good to kill me." Jason then looked at Chris through his pulsing blue eyes. "And why should I share my story with a second rank amateur historian? Besides, I need to test it."

"What?" Greg shouted. "Chris run!"

His movements weren't fast enough as a bolt of lightening leapt from the palm of Jason's hand and burned through young Chris. The young black man didn't scream, he simply convulsed as his muscles trembled. When the surge had passed, he fell lifeless to the floor.

"Chris!" Melissa shrieked.

Karen then whispered. "What an excellent group you've brought into my home."

Mike checked Chris's vitals, "What the hell, Jason? You killed him!"

"He would have ratted us out." He then looked to Greg. "So, mate. What's it going to be? Feel like joining your friend?"

"Go to hell." Greg shouted.

Desmond, stepping away from Melissa and Karen, said, "Calm down! Jason, you didn't say anything about killing our own. I don't play these sort of games."

Melissa shouted, "A bit late to voice your concerns!"

Ignoring her, Desmond added, "You said you'd try to bring them all around, Jason!"

"You heard him!" Jason snapped. "He wasn't going to listen, or team up with us. Besides, these Plasmids are incredible! I never imagined the power of ADAM would be this… this…"

"He's psychotic." Karen chuckled.

"Damn it, Jason!" Mike huffed. "You killed him! You actually killed him!"

"Oh don't be such a baby, bomb boy." Jason laughed. "You're as deep in this as I am! Even deeper if I tell them what you did!"

"Bomb boy?" Desmond huffed. "What… did you, did you blow up the ship?"

Mike dropped his head and didn't respond.

Desmond shook his head in disbelief. Melissa gasped. And Greg simply laughed a nervous chuckle.

Melissa looked at Jason. "You've planned this from the beginning. You used me to get down here and find out about ADAM, not just Rapture, but ADAM itself. I shouldn't have believed you."

Desmond pulled out his pistol and aimed at Jason. "Not just you, he fooled us all."

**To be continued…**


	6. Chapter 6

**VI: Call to arms**

"Put that gun down, you stupid Brit!" Jason snarled toward Desmond. His tone was a fierce growl in his throat.

Desmond smiled, mocking the man. "Sorry, chap. I don't think I'll be following your orders anymore."

"Alright people, can we all just… calm down." Mike huffed loudly. Jason didn't listen. He outstretched his hand toward Desmond and focused on unleashing his lighting, but nothing happened. Desmond stepped back, thankful that he didn't end up like Chris; convulsing and dead on the floor.

Desmond aimed and fired. The bullet split Jason's shoulder, sending blood onto the wall behind him. Jason spun around and yelled, but instead of falling he made a run for the door. He quickly pushed out of Karen's office and ran through the library of books and people. Everyone watched as he ran, but no one seemed to care. As soon as Jason was gone, they all returned to their duties.

Desmond hovered at the office door. "Bastard!" He said as he watched Jason flee. He wanted to give chase, but instead he called Bailey. "You copy?"

"Yeah. What's new?"

"That quack of a reporter snapped. He killed one of our own and now he's on the run. I put a round in him, but he's still mobile."

"You mean, Jason?" Bailey said on the radio.

While Bailey and Desmond talked on the radio, Greg sat down and started shaking his head. "What the hell is going on? I want out of here, now!"

Mike covered Chris's lifeless body with a thin jacket and walked over to Greg. "We'll be okay. Jason had an escape planned."

Melissa walked closer. "What escape plan?"

Mike said, "In four more days, another boat will arrive. But we have to be top side, or it will leave us. We should set up on the surface, and wait. Jason will come up, and when he does we'll have him."

Desmond walked back into Karen's office. "Before you get all _'we're on the same side here'_, chap, how about you explain your part in all of this? I was the hired gun. He told me what we were really looking for and that we made need to lock up a few people. But he said nothing about blowing up our transport."

Greg, trembling, blurted out. "He killed Chris! Damn it!" Melissa sat beside him, wrapped her arm around him and tried to calm him down.

Mike turned to Desmond. "He had to make sure no one got spooked and tried to convince the team to leave. Without a ship, we had no choice but to stay. He didn't think you would like the idea."

"Damn right I wouldn't." Desmond snarled.

"Still, he went batty. And that Adam isn't going to help him calm down. He heard what Melissa said about Adam, and he still wanted to try it."

"So what about the other ships?" Melissa asked. "He couldn't have…"

Mike cut her off. "He did. Somehow, he found a way to get rid of this ships that arrived before we did."

Desmond huffed. "An inside man. Someone here is working for that ass."

Karen, now sitting at her desk and sipping on wine, said. "He won't get out of Point Prometheus. My Angel's are watching, they'll stop him."

Melissa then voiced. "Even with all that Adam you gave him? What about the Plasmids? He's a walking bomb right now, or have you forgotten about what Fontaine was capable of when he was full of Adam?"

Karen smiled. "This man, Jason, whom you brought to us, has had no experience with Adam or Plasmids. One vile of Adam and Electrobolt is not enough to fight off six Big Daddies. And the Big Daddy's have found nearly every stash of Adam throughout Rapture and brought it to me. That is why the people of Rapture are now calm and docile. Without Adam, they are normal. Without little sisters, they can not recreate Adam. He won't get far…"

The room rumbled tossing everyone to the side. The sound of a distant explosion vibrated throughout the chamber. Desmond and Mike quickly grabbed Melissa and Karen and held on as the room staggered. The shacking stopped and then started again.

"It's coming from the Atrium!" Melissa shouted. She freed herself from Mike and ran out of the room. Everyone followed. Karen's aids were taking shelter under desks as books fell from shelves. Melissa ran hard and reached the exit. When she pushed the door open, she could feel the heat of flames snapping all around. She walked onto the ledge and watched as Jason, bulging and swelling with Adam, fought off three Big Daddy's and their Angel leader.

Jason was running madly around the Atrium, dodging the rivet rounds and explosive grenades from the Big Daddies, and throwing flames on them from his arms.

Karen, no longer smiling calmly, said, "Incinerate. How did he get …." The room shook as the massive Big Daddy leader, the Angel, jumped forward and landed next to Jason. His powerful weight and speed caused the entire room to rumble. Jason was hit with a backhand of the Angel's rivet gun. He rolled backwards, across the burning floor of the Atrium, and hit the wall. But he laughed loudly as it to say he felt no pain.

"Karen!" Melissa shouted. "How did he get this strong from one vile of Adam? You said it wasn't possible!"

Karen didn't respond. They all watched as Jason unleashed a powerful wave of electricity from his arms, stunning all four of the Big Daddies still standing. As they stood motionless and convulsing, Jason ran past them. He picked up a rivet gun from the first Big Daddy he killed and then ran into the Bathysphere chamber. After a few moments the Big Daddies once again began moving. The red lights of their helmets scanned the Atrium, but Jason was now long gone. Melissa watched as the Angel ran around the room, going from door to door and actively searching for the missing man.

She quickly ran into the room and shouted, "Stop! Put out these fires and check the integrity of this building." The Angel's lights quickly changed to yellow and he began to order the last of the Daddy's to obey. They cautiously began to pick up fire extinguishers and put out the fire and then began to check the walls for cracks and leaks.

Karen then came forward. "One vile of Adam can not give someone that much strength. He stood against my elite Big Daddies and lived! I will not stand for it!" Karen added. "We worked fore decade to rebuild our home. In his present state he can destroy it all. I'll contact all the little sisters and tell them to take a team of Big Daddies to find him."

Desmond stood behind them. "That's what Adam can do to us? Jason's a bloody monster now! We have to get out of here."

"No." Melissa shouted. "I brought him down here and showed him Prometheus. I'm not letting him destroy a city that was nearly rebuilt. I won't let him destroy my home." She turned to Mike. "You said we have four days, right?"

Mike, still stunned by what he had seen, said, "yeah… right. It should be here in four days."

"Desmond, take everyone and get all the scientists to Bailey's station at the main Bathysphere terminal. Stay there." She took Mike's radio. "Contact me if Jason shows up."

Greg finally spoke. "But there were six more Big Daddies at the other station to get here. Maybe they'll get lucky and kill him."

Karen replied, "Unlike most bathysphere stations, the station in Hephaestus is a one way trip to here. However, this station can exit anywhere amongst Rapture. He did not have to return to Hephaestus."

"Bloody hell." Desmond sighed. "He could be anywhere."

Melissa huffed. "No time to worry about that now. We'll find him. You just get everyone to Bailey's station."

Desmond, shocked by Melissa's commanding tone, nodded. "Right. But what are you going to do? How are you going to catch him?"

Melissa looked at Karen. "We've got a few tricks up our sleeves."

Desmond added, "Don't be a hero. We lost Chris, we aren't going to lose you too, love. We're taking you home when this is over."

Melissa smiled softly. She wasn't sure if it was the fact that Desmond was genuine in his words, or if it was his mentioning of home. She almost wanted to tell him that she had no plans of leaving Rapture now that she was here. Rapture was home. Since the moment of her return, she had felt total comfort in the dark undersea labyrinth. And with the reconstruction efforts, Rapture truly was beautiful once again. No, Desmond, I am home.

Desmond and Greg quickly moved toward the Bathysphere. Mike, however, stayed with Melissa. "I'm sorry. I never meant for any of this."

Melissa couldn't look at him. She turned away from his apologetic stare. "Just go."

"He said we would make money and he would get his story. I swear, I didn't want anyone to get hurt. I just needed the money. I owe so many people…"

Melissa turned, her palm flying wild, and slapped him. "Was your money worth this?" She pointed to the smoldering burns of the Atrium as the Big Daddies finished putting out the raging blaze. She then pointed toward the two dead Big Daddies. "Get out of here!"

Mike held his stinging cheek and ran after Desmond and Greg. Melissa turned to Karen. Karen's smile had returned. "You didn't have to be so mean to the man? Rapture has survived worse."

"We were too young to stop the splicers the first time. We can't let it start again. Not after all the work you have all done." She then walked closer to the Angel Big Daddy. "So Karen, care to tell me who Jason is in contact with? Some one gave him more Plasmids and Adam."

Karen folded her arms. "He also got his hands on Electrobolt 4." Karen thought as she stood with Melissa near the Angel Big Daddy. The Big Daddy knelt at their side, as if to listen in on the conversation.

"I take it that 4 is bad?"

"It's new. Created after the war to help fight and control the Splicers when Fontaine died."

"Then how did he get it?" Melissa asked as she placed a hand on the Big Daddy's shoulder. "Wouldn't something that powerful be locked away for no one to reach?"

"Whoever is helping Jason," Karen added, "must have found it. It was locked away, with the majority of the more dangerous Plasmids, including Incinerate, which he obviously was able to find."

"Where?"

"Mother's vault. Deep within her hideout. No one goes there anymore, and I have an Angel guarding it."

Melissa looked at the Angel big daddy. "Then that's where I'll start looking. You start gathering the sisters, me and Mr. B are going to go exploring."

The Angel gave a happy groan.

Karen laughed. "Now, now, my little angel. You may have once been a splicer, but as a Big Daddy, you still have to obey us."

He groaned again.

Melissa lowered her head childishly. "Oh my mighty Angel, I'm beginning to think you don't like us little sisters."

A soft long groan followed.

Karen then added. "And that is why you should work with us; to atone for your sins. Help Melissa, just like you guarded us now. Earn her trust, and we will forget that you were once a splicer that hurt us. We trained you to lead the Big Daddy's, to repair Rapture, and to protect us. You are no longer a splicer. You are the ultimate Big Daddy; my might Angel!"

The Angel big daddy stood and groaned, happily accepting his new role.

Melissa smiled. "Thank you Mr. B! Let's find another Angel that will work with us, and then stop that man from destroying Rapture, or achieving whatever dark goal he is after."

Melissa and the Angel began to walk toward the Bathysphere when Karen gave a shout. "One more thing, Melissa. Remember, that if you must, you have the ability to use the Plasmids and the Adam, without the side effects. Mother discovered this as we aged. We are very much similar to Jack in that regard."

**To be continued…**


	7. Chapter 7

**VII: Twist and fall**

Mike climbed out of the Bathysphere and watched as Desmond and Greg walked toward the main entrance of the station. Bailey was sitting at his desk, as usual, and not paying much attention. A few of his side kicks lingered about, smoking and watching videos. Didn't they hear what Desmond had told them? Jason had killed a man, and Bailey didn't seem the least bit concerned.

"Bailey!" Desmond huffed as he stood at the desk. "So are you going to setup a defensive or anything?"

Bailey looked at Desmond with short uncaring shake of his head. "Nope." He stood from his desk and walked about. "You know how many people have gone crazy down here, Desmond? More than I like to count. But of those men, and women, none of them actually try to leave. They roam around Rapture and they eventually get stepped on by a big daddy. They run show, man, not the junkies."

"Jason fought off six big daddies, and got away." Desmond added.

Bailey then showed a little concern. "Six?"

Greg sat near the desk. "Six, you ass! And he killed Chris out of spite. I need to get the hell out of here."

Bailey walked back to the desk. "Okay, take it from the top. What made him flip?"

Desmond and Greg then told Bailey and his teammates what had happened. They told him how they found Point Prometheus and Karen, Bridgette Tenenbaum's adopted daughter, the sister that was now in charge of Rapture. How Jason wanted to see ADAM and how Karen fearlessly let him take it. They then told them how Jason was overwhelmed by the sensation and then killed Chris before making his escape.

Bailey rubbed his chin. "So a sister controls the big daddies that control Rapture?" He thought aloud. "Wild." Bailey walked to the Bathysphere entrance and sealed the door. "So Jason, somehow in the distance of about forty yards, was able to get his hands on more ADAM and some stronger plasmids and fight off the big daddies?"

Mike walked closer to the group Bailey started talking to his men. Soon they were grabbing their ammo and weapons.

Bailey asked, "You boys still armed?"

Desmond pulled up his clips of spare M16 rounds and his side arms. "Enough to make Jason sneeze if he comes this way. But I doubt we can stop him."

Bailey agreed. "Give me your guns, I have some heavier firepower. We'll start taking what gear we can to the surface. But I have no idea when a boat will come."

Desmond, Mike and Greg placed their weapons on the table as Bailey's men gathered them up. "Jason said a boat was coming in four days." Desmond then reached out for his side arm. "Hey, I'll keep that if you don't mind." The man pulled away, denying Desmond his weapon. "Hey!"

Bailey flipped off the safety to his pistol and took aim at Desmond. "Sorry bud." He smiled. "We know all about that boat."

Greg nearly fainted. "Son of a bitch…" He had to sit down in order to keep from passing out.

Desmond snarled. "You're the inside man?"

"Not quite. There isn't an inside man. There is, however, an inside woman."

"What?" Mike questioned.

"If you met the boss lady, then I'm sure you met our girl on the inside." Bailey laughed.

Mike looked at Desmond and then back to Bailey. "Karen?"

Bailey laughed. "You think that old bitch would help us? Nah. The one I'm talking about is…"

* * *

"Kate, can you come into my office?" Karen stated into her radio.

"Yes mother." Kate replied on the line. Karen sat at her desk and fumed on the inside. There was no logical way that Jason could have been given so much ADAM that he could stand toe-to-toe with six big daddies. And then he was using plasmids that weren't readily available. How did he get it?

The door to her office opened and her young ninteen year old daughter slowly walked in. "Do you need me?"

Karen leaned forward on her desk, and placed her hands under her chin. "Sit down."

Kate quickly obeyed. "What is the matter, mother?"

"It doesn't make sense." Karen huffed. "To equal the rapid change that Jason went through, would mean he injected himself with a least a gallon of ADAM. Between my office and the Atrium, he was able to gain that much ADAM and Electro bolt class 4." Karen began to rub her temples. "I'm going to say this, but I want you to tell me that I'm crazy." Karen looked up at her daughter; her young beautiful daughter who seemed perfect in a mother's eyes. "Which of the girls helped him?"

Kate sat in thought, but then quickly stated, "It was me, mother. I gave it too him as he passed the exit to the Atrium."

Karen sat motionless. Her cold hard glare did not seem to register what Kate had said. Karen then stood from her seat and walked around the desk. She knelt in front of Kate and placed her head in her daughter's lap. "Don't protect your friends."

"I am not, mother. You taught me long ago to follow my heart. I chose to help the outsider."

The strike was quick and painful upon Kate's tender cheek. Her head whipped sideways from the slap to her face and she adjusted her glasses to keep them from falling off.

But Kate said nothing.

"Why would you do this?" Karen stood from Kate's side and walked away.

"You wanted me to leave, mother. You wanted me to see the world beyond Rapture. They said that they would take me, if I helped them."

"Helped them destroy everything we've fought so hard to protect?" Karen fumed.

"Rapture, mother, has seen far worse. The stories you told me of the war are nothing compared to what one man could possible do."

"How?" Karen calmly questioned as she returned to her seat. "How did they talk you into doing this?"

"Bailey, he told me he would take me far from here." Kate smiled at the mentioning of Bailey's name. "He told me that I only needed to wait for the right moment. That someone would come, a man named Jason would eventually come to meet you. When the time was right, all I needed to do was give this man Jason a large supply of ADAM and Plasmids." Kate rubbed her red cheek. "Mother he is but one man, and his power will fade."

Karen chuckled. "So naive is my daughter that I never noticed. This is my fault. My failure."

"No mother." Kate pleaded. "Bailey will take me away. I will see the world and I will return."

"Kate, that man has no desire to take you anywhere. They only wanted the ADAM." She sat back in chair. "They played you like a hard; a young foolish harp."

"It is only ADAM, mother. They do not know how to make it, they do not know its potential and they only have a vague idea on how to use it. This man, Jason, will run his course and do some damage. But you will see that he will fade, and they will leave. Bailey will thank me… he will…" Kate had yet to truly understand how she was being used, until she looked into her mother's eyes. Karen sat in her chair, emotionlessly listening to her daughter talk. "Why are you looking at me like this mother?"

"Did you get the ADAM and plasmids from the hideout?"

"Yes." Kate replied.

Karen rubbed her temples and picked up the radio. "Melissa, do you hear me?"

On the other end of the radio, Melissa replied._ "Yes, Karen. Any news?"_

"Be careful at the hideout. I have my suspicions that you will not be alone down there." She looked at Kate through frowned eyes.

_"Understood."_ The line went silent.

Karen looked at Kate sternly. "I'm almost positive one of your precious outsiders followed you to mother's hideout. If Jason gets there before Melissa does, he'll have an arsenal of Plasmids and ADAM to the likes of which we have not seen since Fontaine fought Jack."

"No one followed me, mother." Kate sternly stated. "And even still, he will need the combination to the vault to get access."

"Until now, my child, I was not concerned about one man. But if you can't tell, I am slowly becoming terrified."

Kate stood from her seat and began to walk out.

"Where are you going?" Karen shouted.

"To talk with Bailey! They have what they wanted, there is no need to stay here any longer. You'll see mother, they'll leave."

"Sit down!" Karen demanded. But Kate burst through the door and ran for the Bathysphere. Karen did not chase her.

"My young, naïve daughter. Where did I fail you?"

* * *

Melissa had found two Angel's to stand at her side. The sound of their combined stomping was near ear shattering, but Melissa seemed to not mind it. They followed her loyally and cautiously as they navigated the maze of tunnels beneath Olympus Heights. Karen was right, no one came down there. The tunnels were full of rats and dead body's that had long been rotten from the first war. They had been neatly pushed to the side so that people could walk through, most likely Bridget and the remaining little sister had done this years ago while collecting the last of the ADAM and Plasmids. Water still flowed freely, but it was murky brown and smelled foul.

They neared the hideout's massive door. The small hatch at the base of the door was no longer an option of entry. Melissa nearly chuckled at the memory of being able to crawl through the tiny doors so many years ago. How small she was in those days when Jack came to rescue them.

"Open it." She said to the Angel at her side.

The big daddy stepped forward, removed his gloved right hand, and affixed the drill from his back. He then placed the drill into a slot on the side of the door and turned counter clockwise. The door opened with a soft mechanical ping. The other big daddy stepped forward and pried it open. Before he opened it too far, he looked inside and gave a reassuring grunt that the room looked clear.

"That's good to know. Maybe we beat them here, or they didn't find the stash."

The big daddy pried it open further and then stepped inside. He pulled his rivet gun from his back and began to systematically look the room over. With a loud grunt, he waved for Melissa and the other Angel big daddy to come in.

A lot had changed since Melissa last saw the room. The bunks were she and the other girls slept were gone, and had been replaced with crates of weapons from the long forgotten war.

"Fan out. Search every corner. I want to make sure no one is here." Melissa ordered and the big daddies obeyed. She then pulled a syringe from her pocket and injected a blue serum into her arm. It was warm, but slowly faded. Then her left arm began to turn into an off white color, but slowly began to grow more white and condensation began to float from her arm. Soon her arm was completely enveloped in a coating of ice. She felt no pain, but she could feel the chill flowing over the rest of her body. "Fight fire with ice." She lowered her arm and pocketed the syringe.

Melissa walked toward the vault and examined it. Behind the locked door was enough ADAM and Plasmids to send Rapture back to the world of her past. She was grateful to see that it had not been opened. She walked away from the vault's massive steel door and examined the other rooms of the hideout. Besides the missing bunk beds, everything else was still the same. Doctor Tenenbaum's desk still sat in the corner. The operating room with its thick glass in one corner, and even the chalk drawings that she and the other little sister had made were still on the floor, although covered in years of dust.

"Hey, Melissa."

The voice was close, sudden, and Melissa didn't know where it came from. She spun around looking to see who had called her.

"Look up."

Melissa froze, slowly she craned her head upward and glared into the brilliantly crazed eyes of Jason. His face was showing the early stages of distortion but there was very little doubt that it was him. He clung to a pipe on the ceiling only a few feet above her head.

"Thanks for opening the door, love. Would it be too much to ask for you to open the vault? Daddy needs another fix."

"You sure as hell aren't my daddy!" Melissa waved her left arm upward in an arc, freezing the ceiling and pipe in which Jason was clinging to, but before the ice touched him he vanished in a puff a red smoke. "HAHA you'll have to do much, much better, my little sister."

The laughter caught the big daddies attention and they both ran to her side.

"Oh, two this time? Is it enough? Can they stop me from my prize?" Jason laughed as he walked about the room in the shadow of invisibility; the Houdini serum allowing him to appear and disappear at will.

The big daddies eyes glowed bright red as they growled. And Melissa stood between them as she focused on her arm. The ice slowly melted away, and by mere thought she changed it to a pulsating blue as sparks began to snap at her fingertips. Melissa and the big daddies began to back away from the center of the room, putting her backs to the vault door. Melissa pointed upward and the big daddy with the rivet gun fired at a pipe, bursting it and it sprayed water throughout the room.

"Hey Jason, here's your science lesson!" Melissa made sure the water wasn't under her or the big daddies feet, and waited until she saw water splash as if someone had stepped in it. She fired the bold of electricity from her arm and sparks leapt all around and Jason froze in his tracks as the voltage surged up his body.

The two big daddies dashed forward at nearly impossible speeds for such large mechanical men. They lowered their shoulders and plowed into Jason at the same time and sent him flailing across the room until he hit the back wall. A trail of blood dripped from his head as he sat up.

Melissa smiled. "Looks like that Houdini trick took more Adam then you could afford. The lower your ADAM gets, the less you are able to heal. You're coming back with me, and we'll make you pay for what you did to Chris."

Jason groaned as he stood, his shoulder dislocated and head dripping from a massive wound. "Give me the ADAM!"

Melissa's smile faded. "Is that all you care about now? What about Chris? Who were you working with down here?"

"I need my story! Don't you see? The ADAM, bitch. Give me the ADAM! It's all for my story. Everyone will know me!"

For a moment, Melissa felt sorry for Jason's lost senses. He was still the man she knew, but his desires mixed with his emotions and the effect of ADAM had reduced him to nothing more than a blabbering splicer.

"Kill'em, Mr. B." The two towering giants stumbled toward him, one with a rivet gun and the other with a drill on his right hand. They both growled with satisfaction as they tore Jason's body to shreds.

**To be continued…**

* * *

NOTES: Jason killed? WHAT? Oh no if and or buts about it. Jason is dead. Get ready for a true shocker as only a Bioshock story could bring you.

-Soulguard


	8. Chapter 8

**VIII: Ascension**

Kate ran. She pushed her thin legs harder and harder with each impact of her old fashioned shoes. She loved to run. She loved the feeling of her body in midst of exhilaration. She felt alive but only when she was running or when she was altering her body.

She opened the massive door to the bathysphere station and walked inside. The three men that were with Jason in her mother's office sat handcuffed to the wall, while Bailey lurked about the main terminal. He smiled at her, and she felt her body temperature rise. She felt alive. Her heart was pumping even faster than when she was running. She was nervous around Bailey, elated, excited, and afraid. He made her feel alive. Kate loved this feeling more than anything; the constant change of emotions that would spark a reaction within her.

In all of her short life, she had never known a true sense of being lost in her feelings. The way her mind altered her body was nearly orgasmic in nature. It was beyond a sexual experience, but she wanted to know that feeling as well. And though she enjoyed these moments, she was still a huge fan of altering her body.

"Kate." Bailey smiled as he walked toward her. Kate wiped the sweat from her forhead and smiled happily.

She leaned in and kissed Bailey upon the lips. His tall powerful structure completely overwhelmed her small petite form. When she pulled away, she locked her eyes on his, but Bailey was already looking around, searching for something.

"Did you bring it?"

Kate ignored his question. "That man you told me to give ADAM to, he won't last long if he doesn't come back here soon. They are looking for him."

"Chances are they'll kill him, but we have proof that it works and that's all my people need." Bailey smiled. "Now, tell me you brought it."

Kate opened two buttons from her top, and pulled up a long necklace. Attached to the necklace was the key to Rapture. "Mother hardly cares for this thing." Bailey couldn't take his eyes off of it. He reached out to touch it, but Kate dropped it back into her blouse. "You promised to take me to the surface, to show me your world."

"Same world, honey. Different people, and lots of sun." Bailey looked at his unit. "Take them top side, radio for Evac." The mercenaries quickly grabbed Mike, Desmond, and Greg. However, Mike found a slip in his cuffs, and with one painful tug, his hand was free. He threw a punch and dived into another merc. Desmond kicked back and caught one of the men in the groin, doubling the man over in pain. He then shoulder tackled another man and they both went sprawling to the ground.

Desmond shouted. "We can't hold them all, get out of here!"

Mike looked around as the mercs gathered there senses and armed their guns. He quickly raced for the bathysphere station exit as several rifle rounds pinged against the metal reinforced door.

Bailey cursed under his breath. Several mercs started to give chase, "Let him go!" Bailey shouted. "Secure the other two! He can't do anything now."

Kate asked, "Why did you partner with people you could not trust? I understand the need for the older woman, she was a sister, but why these men who are not loyal?"

Bailey didn't reply to her. "Let's get out of here, we have what we came for." He walked toward Kate, grabbed her blouse and tore it open. The key hung loosely between her breasts; Kate did not bother to cover herself, showing only a little skin and fully exposed brassier. Bailey grabbed the key, but before he could take it, Kate grabbed his hand.

"You used me?"

"Believe me, sweetheart. It's better if you stay here."

"How, dare you…" Her heart accelerated, and her brow pinched just above her nose.

Bailey pulled away, but could not break free of Kate's grip. "Kate, I can't take you with me."

"Anger." She snarled. "Pain, heartache, torment, suffering, love, hate… fury." She smiled as she glared into Bailey's eyes. "I guess mother was right. I was naïve."

"No." Bailey kicked Kate the stomach sending her small form rolling across the floor. "You weren't naïve, Kate. In the world above the sea, money is more important than love." Bailey and his men, with Desmond and Greg in tow, climbed into the Bathysphere and ascended to the surface.

Kate sat up, holding her stomach where the man she thought she loved had kicked her. "I lied to my mother, sent her on a false trail, stole the key of Rapture, and all for the sake of this fleeting feeling." She sat against the wall and covered her torn blouse as best she could.

"Like Bridgette Tenenbaum before me, I was fooled." She leaned back and smiled. "Oh Bailey, how well you have played my game. Thank you, my love. Thank you." Kate looked at the door as two other young girls walked in and looked at her. Each smiling happily as they knelt at Kate's side.

"Did they take it?"

"Yes." Kate smiled.

"He hit you? Can I see the bruise?" The other asked. Kate obliged, opening her blouse and revealing the bruise from Bailey's boot.

The other girl smiled. "Now we wait."

Kate nodded. "Yes. We wait and we plan. Our mothers had their war, now it is our turn. We will bring back the Rapture of old."

The girl who examined Kate's wound said, "Self fulfilling prophecy. We who were born of Rapture, shall bring its destruction. We can not escape this path."

The other girl added, "Though false, we shall make it true."

Kate laughed. "The pain is so great. The response of my body is so programmed." She stood up and covered herself. The other two girls joined her. "Adults are stupid. We played them perfectly."

One of the other girls sighed, "Yet we must be cautious of our mothers. They will try to stop this wheel from spinning; even though their hearts cry out for destruction. Age will hinder their truest desires mute."

"No." Kate smiled. "My mother, I have seen her eyes at the presence of danger. When the man first came to her, she felt it, the desire of returning to her old life. She will not silence her longing for change, for chaos, for destruction. Once a Little Sister, always a Little Sister."

"Like the other one, Melissa. She fully embraced her role. We could never have planed for her to come here. It was too perfect, unpredictable. Truly it was destined."

Kate began to walk back to the door. "We failed with the first scientists who came to us. Using ADAM as bait was not the correct option. However, showing them the Key to Rapture gave us the desired results." Kate rubbed her bruise. "Now I must return to mother, tell her of my failure. She will be saddened, but her heart will fill with rejoice of the war to come. Our dreams will come true."

"But we must be careful, Kate." The other girl said. "This is not their war. This one is ours." As they crossed the threshold leaving the Bathysphere station, two Angel big daddies approached. "Come Mr. Bubbles. We have much work to do."

- - - - - - - -

Melissa sat on the floor. For nearly twenty minutes she had been trying to contact Desmond and the others, but no one would respond. "Desmond, Mike, Bailey, copy?" And yet again there was still no response to her radio. She finally changed frequencies. "Karen, copy?"

"I hear you." Karen replied.

"I can't reach the Bathysphere station. No one is responding.

"We've been made as fools, Melissa." Karen sighed on the line. "I found the insider. It was my daughter. She has been seduced by the military man's words."

"Bailey?"

"Yes. That is his name." Karen was silent on the line for a few moments. "I encouraged Kate to see the top side world. When the first scientists came to see Rapture, I urged her and several others to greet them. Yet those frail men became obsessed with the world here, and eventually found ADAM of their own. I did not know how they found it, but now I know it was my blinded daughter who did this. She drove those men insane, and they fled to their world."

"Chris told me about them. They were crazy, locked up because they hurt themselves whenever they could."

"That was so many years ago." Karen cursed in German. "Stupid child. I don't know what she was planning, but I know it was involved in leaving Rapture. Those men perhaps, they promised to take her but only if she gave them ADAM."

Melissa thought to herself as she started to walk into the tunnels toward the exit; her two big daddies were slowly stalking behind. "Maybe or maybe not."

"What are you thinking?" Karen asked.

"I don't know, but I don't think this is simply about leaving Rapture. Anyway, if Bailey is the bad guy, then that means Desmond, Greg and Mike are in trouble or dead."

"I will go to the Bathysphere station with several Daddies."

"I'll meet you there." Melissa powered off the radio.

Karen immediately injected herself with a vile of ADAM and within a brief moment she could feel its effects. The surge of power was nearly instantaneous to her, but it was not something she was unaccustomed to feeling. She pulled down her sleeve and quickly walked out of her office. Her eyes scanned the group of people working outside her office. It was clear that a majority of the younger children were gone. They were all mostly in their late teens, and working in the library was an easy way for Karen to keep her eyes on them. One pastime the children had was to play with the ex-splicers that were prisoners in Apollo Square. She, nor the other adult sisters, liked the idea of their children playing with the children of those who had tried to kill them in the past.

Did the other girls and boys follow Kate? She wondered. Karen pushed on and as she exited into the Atrium of Point Prometheus several bouncer big daddies awaited her. She continued walking and waved for them to follow.

For so long Karen had been leading the people of Rapture, fighting with her sisters and the big daddies to stop and cure the Splicers, but now an outside menace had taken her back to her role as the leader without a heart.

It was nearly twenty two years ago that Bridgette Tenenbaum had died. Her adopted mother was strong, a powerful and brilliant woman even in her old age. Though her body was failing her mind was still sharp. It was Bridgette who gave the last push to finally kill the last of the more powerful splicers in Rapture. Karen remembered that day, the day of Bridgette's death, as the most honorable day of any women's life. It marked the day that she became the new leader of the Sister's and of Rapture. She was said to have no heart, because she did not slow down to grieve for her adopted mother. None of the sisters truly knew how much pain Karen was in when Bridgette died. She never showed them that weakness.

From that day on, in honor of her mother, Karen ordered all big daddies to rebuild Rapture to its former glory. She made the Angels and made them supervise the other big daddies, because the Angels, the former Splicers who could not be completely healed, still remembered Rapture's beauty. Karen honored Ryan's legacy by leaving up his statues, but she burned down everything that belonged to Frank Fontaine. Even to this day she still detested the man. Death was not enough for his twisted soul.

Karen wanted more for her daughter, however. She had such great hopes for Kate. Kate was going to go to the surface, learn of the world that Karen had never seen, and hopefully live a happy life, but it was now clear that there was no escaping her mother's dark and bloody past. Kate and the other daughters and sons, were going to get caught in the middle of another battle in Rapture. Karen hated herself for allowing the daughters and sons to get involved with the men from the upper world. She had hoped that the world above was better than Rapture, but it was clear that it was no different.

Karen had one driving force, and that was to save her daughter from the lure of death; wicked men who would lie, cheat, and steal to get what they wanted. Like Fontaine and his stooges, the men from the surface were evil and cruel.

The Bathysphere rose to the surface and Karen walked toward it; she was going to go straight to the main station and face Bailey herself. The door to the Bathysphere opened and Kate stepped out.

"Kate!" Karen gasped. Her jaw tensed as she saw Kate's torn blouse. "He hurt you… he touched you! He attacked you?" She was furious.

Kate walked forward and her two friends stepped out behind her. Karen didn't question them. Kate stood in front of her mother, holding her torn blouse. "I am fine mother. You were right, I was foolish." She smiled. "Yet I learned so much."

Karen rubbed Kate's hair, "Stay here with your friends. We will talk when this is over."

"Where are you going?"

"To face him and all of his men." Karen replied.

"Mother, I am sure that by the time you reach them, they will be gone." Kate said as her mother turned to look at her. "I gave them what they wanted, and they left."

One of the girls laughed. "Well, you did not really give them anything. He took it from you."

"If you wish to be so precise." Kate laughed.

Karen seemed confused. "This is not funny. If they leave with the ADAM they can study it. Eventually uncovering its makeup and how to make…"

Kate walked closer to her mother. "Mother, I gave them the key."

Karen glared at Kate in shock. She was speechless.

"Don't you see, mother. We can return to those times. We can have a purpose again. We have an army of big daddies and Angel's at our command. They will come to claim Rapture and we will fight. This will be our war. Your children will have a war just like you did…"

Karen screamed. "I do not want you to fight for anything! I want you to have the life I didn't. To love, to marry, to have children of your own under the rays of a bright golden sun."

Kate looked at her mother curiously. "Mother. We are children of war. We were born at the end of your war, and lived in the ruins of Rapture."

"We rebuilt Rapture!" Karen had not noticed the tears in her eyes.

"Mother, have you forgotten?" Kate said calmly. "Have you forgotten the stories you told us when we were young? You raised us all on the dreams of your conquest with Grandmother Bridgette. You gave us dreams of marching with big daddies and laying waste to splicers. And though you may wish for us to be something more, we were born to the world of war."

"Miss Karen," said one of Kate's friends, "this is what we have wanted, dreamed of, for many years. Like you, we will protect our home, or die trying."

Karen staggered in shock. "Why would you want this? Why would you want to risk your lives like this?"

"Because, we do not want to live our lives wondering _'what if'_ the way you and our mothers lived." The other girls said.

Kate said, "What if Doctor Suchong, was nice? What if grandmother Bridgette had never found ADAM? What if Ryan had intervened in Fontaine's research into biotechnology? What if, what if, what if! No mother. We want to live the dreams we have. You dreamed of being a normal little girl… we dreamed of being Little Sisters!"

"We have the tools to live our dreams." One girl said.

"We have shed our fears and embraced the danger." The other girl said.

Kate stepped forward. "Mother. This is our war, and we, the daughters of the Sisters, will fight it. I must ask that you either help us, or go away."

**To be continued**


	9. Chapter 9

_**NOTE:** Sorry for the delay. You will find this chapter to be very short, but I promise to adjust the final 2 chapters accordingly. I am a huge LOST fan and the season finale made me sit back and realize that I needed to rewrite this chapter and the conclusion. My story was almost in parrellel to the season finale of Lost and I realized that if I posted it, you would most likely think I copied it, so I'm saying now, I actually did this before Lost's finale, they just happen to be similar. And you will see what I mean in the coming final chapters of this Fanfic. Look for 10 next week and 11 not too far behind that. Enjoy_

_-soul_

* * *

**IX: Rapture's Final Song**

Melissa sat at the pier and listened to the waves' gentle slaps upon the pillars beneath the wooden deck. The sun sat high atop the day, it was noon, and she could only imagine the fate that would soon befall Rapture once again.

Bailey's rescue helicopter was flying away; Melissa had missed it by only a few moments. She hadn't hoped to catch it to escape Rapture; on the contrary, she wanted to kill everyone on board, sparing Greg, Mike, and Desmond.

The sound of two heavy footsteps echoed behind her, and Melissa turned to see her two Angel big daddies walking to her. They knelt at her side and one of them groaned loudly.

Melissa smiled. "So, Karen's daughter gave Bailey the key. He'll come back with a full force and attempt to claim the city." Melissa stood up and tied back her hair. "Thank you Mr. B. I doubt Karen would have told me the whole truth. Looks like her daughter is more involved than I thought." Melissa turned and began to walk back into the light house. As she climbed the curving ramp to the door she jumped back at the presence of Mike standing in the archway

The two Angel's lurched forward, and Mike dodged clear. He ran past one, and side stepped the other, and in a few steps he was standing next to Melissa.

"Stop!" Melissa screamed to the two Angel's and they froze in place, yet their eyes still glowed angrily. "What are you doing here? I thought you were a prisoner."

"I escaped. Thanks to Desmond's help. Bailey didn't chase me." Mike said.

"And you expect me to believe you?"

"You have to believe me. This wasn't in the plan."

"You worked for Jason, who in turn worked for Bailey. How much do you expect me to believe?"

"I never knew Jason would go this far. But I swear to you, I had no clue about Bailey or Karen's daughter. Jason said he was here to get the story, and eventually find out who was in control of Rapture. We knew people were down here, but just not how many and to what extent." Jason sat against the light house wall and lowered himself to the ground. "My job was to sabotage the boat, and watch you, convince you to give me more info. When you started talking about Point Prometheus, I thought we were done with the lies. I didn't know he was after the ADAM or the Plasmids. And Bailey? I had no idea he would be working with Jason, let alone that the girl was the insider. You have to believe me."

Melissa sat at his side. She didn't want to believe him. Believing in Jason was the biggest mistake of her life, and now the guy that once worked for him was asking her forgiveness and to trust in him. But so was the history of Rapture.

Jack was also lied too when he first came to Rapture. Jack's only contact was Atlus, when he first crashed in the ocean so many years ago. For several hours Atlus guided Jack through Rapture, allowing him only a few minutes of rest at a time. And after Jack had regained the Key of Rapture from Andrew Ryan, Atlus told Jack that he was Frank Fontaine. Jack was nothing but a puppet. It took Jack days to regain the strength to fight back, and free himself from Fontaine's grip.

Melissa knew that Rapture was hell. That everyone who came to Rapture would suffer in some way. Yet those born of Rapture, the little sisters and the daughters and sons of the sisters, were its only saving grace. It was as if Rapture systematically chose who it would allow to inhabit its ocean dwelling, and did whatever was necessary to eliminate the intruders.

Mike was not born of Rapture. He was not a little sister and he was not a son of a sister. He was not even the son of a descendant of Rapture, so surely Rapture would destroy him just as Rapture destroyed those who created it, and visited it. It was apparent that only those born of Rapture would dare to be spared, unless they became a part of Rapture. But even that was unthinkable.

"Let me fight with you." Mike said in the silence.

The two big daddies looked at each other and then to Melissa, to see how she would respond.

"I can't trust you."

"Let me earn your trust."

"I can only trust my sisters in this world. You're an outsider and Rapture will destroy you."

"Then let me die helping you." Mike stood up suddenly, causing the two daddies to react defensively. They staggered forward, ready to fight, but Mike ignored them. "The reason I helped Jason was because I don't have anything to go home to. He made me an offer, and good money. I took it. I don't have anything back home. Both my parents died long ago. No wife, not even a girlfriend."

"This really isn't the place for a heart to heart, Mike." Melissa sighed. "Bailey will be back… with an army, no doubt."

"Than you need every able body you can get."

The sound of clicking heels echoed inside the light house. "She has more than enough help, sir." Karen stated as she emerged from the shadows. "You're people may have powerful weapons, but we have our big daddies and Plasmids. There is a war coming. A war that I could not stop form coming."

Melissa stood and looked into the archway at Karen. "What have you done with your daughter? Prison, I hope."

"No… nothing." Karen sulked.

"She set this up, Karen. This is all her fault."

"No. I… encouraged it. I pushed her to this end."

"It was her choice, Karen. She's endangered all of us."

"She is my daughter, Melissa!" Karen shouted, but her voice cracked from the pain she was holding back. "She is the only thing I have, I made. She is a part of me. This is not entirely her fault."

Mike watched and listened, but dared not to speak.

"Karen," Melissa said, "I don't know what you've been through down here since I left, but what she did is wrong."

"All of the sons and daughters feel this way, Melissa. They want their chance to live their dreams… they want the war we fought. They are determined to live out the stories I told them when they were young. They believe it is their turn and they will not sacrifice their dreams."

Mike then mumbled. "Self Fulfilling Prophecy."

"What are you talking about?" Melissa heard him.

Mike looked at Karen and Melissa and said, "It sounds like an old wives tale, but there is a saying that daughters become their mothers, and sons become their fathers. Your daughter is trying to recreate your life. If this is their turn, than they are doing everything they can to align themselves up with your past.

Melissa smiled. "We believed that an Angel would come to us…"

Karen smiled, "Jack… our savior."

"He carried us to the surface."

"But left some behind." Karen looked to Mike. "You're right."

Melissa thought aloud. "The sons and daughters of Rapture, they want their war… they want their savior to come for them."

"It's not just the war," Karen gasped, "it's the hero as well. They want an Angel, just like we had."

Mike nodded. "This is a bit of stretch, but it explains why the children want a war to start. The stories you say you told them, it inspired them, and in the end they would be saved. Childish fantasies infused with dramatic hopes."

Karen wondered toward the big daddies. "My stupid child. She's playing with life and death to achieve a dream."

Melissa said, "In her eyes it is a dream that can come true. You and I are walking testaments to that."

"It may not be a real prophecy," Mike said, "but they are trying to make it happen. Thus a Self Fulfilling Prophecy."

Karen turned back to Mike and Melissa. "This war is coming. There is nothing stopping it now. But what we need to do is prepare."

Melissa shook her head. "You don't know the world of men, Karen. What the military wants, it gets, or they destroy." She turned to Mike.

Mike nodded. "She's right. You're a foreign power, and you exist under no flag. With the power of your Plasmids, you'll be seen as a threat far worse than Nuclear Missiles; a powerful independent state."

Melissa sighed. "They'll destroy Rapture. Hit us with submarines or depth charges, things we can't fight. We'll be dead before we know what hit us."

"This is why Ryan kept Rapture a secret." Karen said exhaustingly.

"We simply can't fight a world power." Melissa huffed.

Mike asked, "what will you do?"

Melissa and Karen sat in silence.

- - - - - - - -

Kate walked around the train grounds of Apollo Square. She was proud of what she saw. The cured crowd of splicers were eager to fight, eager to obey and follow; with the right motivation. She held up a syringe and waved it slowly to the gathered crowd.

"I am quite sure you all know what this is. Does it not make you tingle with excitement?" She said to the crowd.

There were hundreds of soft moans. All of the residents glared at the vile of orange fluid as if they had seen the cure for everything that ailed them.

"This is what those up above are coming for. They will destroy us to get it. They will take away our home and kill us in the process." She waved the syringe toward the mass. "Will you let them?"

"NO!" Came a collective cry.

"I know you wished to be free of ADAM, and many of you have been for many years. But if you only use a little, and if you are cautious of your use of it, you can still use the power! Teach your children how to use it sparingly. Show them the power and teach them to not become dependant upon it!"

Kate turned to her to friends and watched as they began to pass out syringes of ADAM to the residents of Apollo. "Remember, do not use it until the enemy comes. Supplies are limited!" She reminded the people.

Karen then turned back to the Mass and smiled happily. Yet she noticed that some were not moving toward the handouts. She expected many to hold out, fearful of the effects of ADAM. "Do not be afraid. We have learned much since your time as splicers." She pointed to the distant few who were walking away.

One man shouted, "I will fight my own way! I will never go back to ADAM!"

"That is your choice, brave sir, but what of your children, your family, and your friends? Those who can not fight because they are too old? Can you protect them against a nation that would see us dead? We have made ADAM saver than before. With caution you will not fall to its temptation. Remember the power…"

The man paused.

"Remember the energy?"

He slowly turned back and looked at Kate, his mind filling with the memories of his addiction to Adam. Those that were with him also began to remember.

"This time you will have control, and the fear of its abuse to keep you sane!" Kate waved the men forward, and like baited children they surrendered to her will.

Yes, she thought to herself, return to your mindlessness. Become the insane ramparts of Raptures past. Give us the setting of our dreams. Soon, mother and her allies will know that there is but one path to saving Rapture… and that is to return the world to what it once was. Let the military come, and what they will find will be a tomb they will never leave. We will have our war… and our angel.

Karen smiled as she stood next to her two friends and happily passed out syringes and vials of ADAM. Already the inhabitants of Apollo Square were eagerly protecting their ADAM, even without ingesting it, as their memories swarmed back to them. They had to protect what little ADAM they had, it was the way it was even if it was being given to them.

Kate watched as several fights broke out in the crowd, she chuckled. "Please… do not fight." She said softly with a smile. "The true enemy has yet to arrive."

Kate's friends, passing out the ADAM and Plasmids and EVE, also smiled. Today was a glorious day.

_**To be continued…**_


	10. Chapter 10

_I long delay in getting this posted. I was preoccupied with other events and I only now got back to finishing this story. With the long weekend ahead, I plan to finish this story very soon. So enjoy this chapter and as always, thanks for reading and feel free to comment.  
-Soul_

* * *

**X: I'd rather have Adam.**

Desmond and Greg, still cuffed and gagged, sat in a neglected in a corner of the large room. For the past six hours they had been interrogated for information about what more they had found in Rapture. Beyond the death of Chris, and the Key that Bailey took, there wasn't anything worth sharing that Bailey had not already told them. With no information to share, they were discarded, and were not even offered the luxury of a holding cell.

With a little work Desmond managed to work his arms to the front and take off his gag. He wormed his tongue around his mouth several times in order to create some moisture. "You alright?" Desmond asked, looking over to the traumatized Greg.

Greg nodded a weakened response. The expert cave diver had met his wits end. Not only did he watch his friend Chris get murdered by a lunatic, he had been held prisoner by the United States military on charges of aiding a foreign power against America. His credentials stripped and his travel visa all but destroyed.

Desmond crawled over and removed the gag from Greg's mouth.

Greg coughed and said, "I really want to go home."

"Don't worry too much. They're only holding us for as long as it's truly possible."

"They tore up my visa, all my diving permits… my life. This shit isn't worth it."

The ex-SAS operative could see the panic building in Greg's eyes. "Keep it together now, we'll be through this soon. I know how they work, you'll be fine. They may even give your pocket a fill in order to keep you silent." Greg's words were reassuring, but he knew that it was wishful thinking at most. In honesty, he wasn't sure what to expect because of the uniqueness of the situation. But a comforting lie was far better than watching a grown man lose his calm.

The door opened and they both shied away from the bright lights of the hallway. The door closed with a metallic squeak as the room lights turned on.

"What more do you want, Bailey?" Desmond asked as the middle aged black man pulled up a chair.

"A little more of your gracious cooperation." He smiled. "I can only imagine what is going on back at Rapture. I'm sure Melissa, Kate, and Karen are all up in arms about building an army of Big Daddies to defend their home."

"If they did, they'd be stupid." Desmond sighed. "They can't hope to fight the US."

"Agreed. So I need you to do me a little favor." Bailey pulled out a key and leaned forward to Greg, unlocking his cuffs. "You are going back, alone, with a message."

"Why me? I don't want to go back! I just want to go home."

"In due time." Bailey smiled.

"Let me go down." Desmond objected. "Greg's been through enough."

"You? A trained British SAS in the hands of those little sisters and Big Daddies? I want this to be easy, not harder. Sending you down there would almost guarantee they'll fight back, with you giving them helpful pointers." Bailey helped Greg to his feet. "He goes, you stay. While your there, convince your friend Melissa and all her little groupies that fighting would be a big mistake."

"Eh, Bailey, exactly what does the US want with an old relic of a city underwater?" Desmond asked, stalling for more time and to give Greg more useful info to take with him.

"We want Bridget Tenenbaum's research, and to remove the threat of anyone gaining access to it." Bailey said calmly. "The higher ups want to see that threat removed, even if it means obliterating everything down there. What if Saddam, or some Terrorist group get there hand on Adam and Plasmids? The world isn't ready for that scenario."

"Pretty noble answer, mate, but how about you tell me what YOU are after."

Bailey smiled. "One vile of Adam goes for a cool five hundred grand on the market. We can't track everything that comes out of Rapture."

"So, you're trying to capitalize on your country's noble deeds?" Desmond chuckled.

"Why else would I hire Jason? His job was to get the Adam out…" Bailey laughed. "Why the hell am I explaining this to you?" He grabbed Greg and dragged him out of the room. "Unless you want to die down there, I advise you to tell Melissa and the others surrender."

- - - - - - - -

The helicopter hovered several feet above the dock and Greg jumped down. He stood up and watched as the military helicopter flew off, leaving him. He turned and sulked as he stared at the setting sun in the distance.

He had two days to warn Melissa, and hopefully save his own life. He ran up the ramp and climbed into the Bathysphere toward the main station. Once below, he climbed out and froze in shock.

"What in the name of god…" The sign that said welcome to Rapture, had been drastically damaged. Fire burns marked the once pristine walls and sparks spat from torn wires. No more than six hours ago, the room was like new.

"Hello." A young woman stated as she climbed over a few broken boxes. Her clothes looked new, but were stained in blood. Greg couldn't tell if it was her blood, or someone else's. "Do you want to talk to me?" She asked.

"What… happened here?"

"What happened where?" She countered. "Nothing. Spring cleaning. Do you want to talk to me, cause I want to talk to you. Yeah, love. There is so much I want to talk to you about." She pulled a knife from her pocket. "Let's talk about that Adam you have. I know you have it. I saw it. Yeah, I saw it."

"Splicer…" Greg's heart quickened. There was no way to negotiate with the woman. Greg remembered everything Melissa had told him about their insanity.

"What did you say? Splicer? I'm not a splicer, love?" She crawled down from the box, her knife tightly clinched in her fist as she stalked closer to Greg. "My parents were Splicers, they were crazy, but not me, I just want the Adam, love. They gave you some, I know they did. Hand it over!" She lurched forward, pouncing like a wild cat, and brought her knife down on Greg's shoulder. They tumbled back and onto the floor. Greg shouted as the blade pierced his shoulder and he grabbed the girl's hand.

She straddled on top of him, laughing hysterically as she searched him with her free hand. Greg punched her, but she simply laughed it off and continued to rub her hands all over him.

"Where is it, love? Where's the, Adam?"

"I don't have any!" Greg screamed as he finally overpowered her knife hand and pulled the blade free. He tossed her to the side and staggered to his feet, but the young girl was already up and charging at him.

"You lie, you lie, you lie! I saw it!" She tried to tackle Greg from behind, but he managed to get clear and made a run for the door beyond the station. "Don't run! I just want to talk!" She cackled as she gave chase.

Greg ran passed an opened canister and inside were several fire extinguishers. He grabbed one and swung around wildly. The sound of metal crashing into flesh was nauseating. The girl fell to the ground in a heap of twitching muscles as blood rolled from the side of her head. Greg nearly vomited at the sight. He dropped the extinguisher and pulled out the radio that Bailey gave him.

"Melissa, its Greg… where are you?"

- - - - - - - -

Melissa rolled to her side as another axe flew passed her. She raised her arms and engulfed an entire crowd of splicers into a rolling ball of flames. Their screams echoed random words of terror and pain, while some still begged for more Adam even as they burned to death. But Melissa couldn't stop, more and more were gathering at the door to the Farmer's Market. She mentally focused to change her biology, and the flames that once leapt from her arms extinguished and were replaced by the cold of ice. She waved near the door and a thick sheet of ice blocked all from passing by. It wouldn't be long before they broke through, but at least now she could gather herself and regroup her forces.

At her side stood ten Big Daddies.

The massive bouncers charged into packs of splicers that were already in the room. Their eyes glowing blood read as their drills spun into the flesh of the crazed inhabitants of Rapture. Another Big Daddy stood near the only exit from the room, firing its massive rivet gun into the crowds, and tossed mines and bombs about the room.

Melissa turned and watched as five splicers united and piled upon a Rosie Big Daddy. With crowbars, axes, and knives they clawed at the Big Daddy until they finally wore out its suit of armor. The pressurized life fluids within the Rosie's suit gushed outward as it screamed. It fought all the way to the end, when one of the splicers rammed its crowbar through the front of its mask. The lights within the helmet faded as its life ceased.

Melissa screamed, "Mr. B!" She clinched her fists together and brought them overhead. Her left arm was instantly engulfed in a circular gulf of wind, while her right arm changed to flames. As she brought down her arms in a hammering move, a maelstrom of wind gathered above the fallen Rosie and its killers. The wind swirled in a ball of flame and thundered down upon them with the motion of Melissa's arms. The impact, a combination of Incinerate and Sonic Boom, destroyed everything within ten feet of the fallen big daddy; including its lifeless corpse. The splicers had no chance of living.

Tears flowed freely from Melissa's eyes as she wept for her fallen comrade. She had been fighting at the Rosie's side for more than five hours. As she lay in emotional shambles, a large arm reached under her and picked her up from the ground; it was the Angel Big Daddy. The Angel roared orders to the remaining eight daddies and they began to retreat out of the Farmers Market, as the sheet of ice that Melissa had made finally broke. Dozens of splicers frantically poured into the room.

The big daddies, with Melissa in tow, sealed the pressure door to the Farmers Market and another Rosie model began to weld it shut. They had lost another territory.

The Angel sat Melissa against the wall as the other daddies watched; their eyes slowly returning to yellow. The Angel grunted.

Melissa fought back her tears. "I know. I know. I can't give up. "Another Big Daddy grunted in a higher pitch.

"No! I don't want to see any more of you hurt. But I know that it can't be avoided." Her childhood conditioning, the forced bond to the Big Daddies, instinctively returned. She cared more for the Big Daddies than any of the others around her.

A burst of static sounded, "Melissa, its Greg… where are you?"

Melissa fumbled into her backpack and pulled out the radio. "Greg!"

"Thank God…"

"What are you doing here?"

"They let me go, they wanted me to ask you not to fight. But before that, I just killed a splicer. God, she couldn't have been more than fifteen."

"Where are you?"

"That Bathysphere station."

Melissa thought for a moment. "You aren't safe! A few random splicers slipped passed us before we could lock them in. Get to Arcadia as fast as you can! Switch to channel 49 and talk to Mike. He is there with Karen. I'll meet you when I can."

Greg's voice was faint on the other end. "I don't know if I can… I'm losing a lot of blood. My shoulder…"

"Damn it, Greg. What's worse, dying while you run or dying in one spot? Try!" Melissa closed the channel and pocketed the radio. The Angel grunted a question. "No, he's on his own. We have enough to worry about."

- - - - - - -

Greg stood from his resting spot near the door. His shoulder was starting to burn even more as nerves died around the wound. He put pressure on it after he tied off his home made bandage. Arcadia wasn't too far away, but Melissa's warning about not being safe lingered in his head. He knelt down and picked up the knife the girl had. He looked around, examining the room for anything he could use for a weapon. A broken pipe lay in a pool of excess water. He scooped it up and pushed on.

Once he opened the door to the Kashmir elevators, the extent of the damage presented itself. He saw someone clawing a gate, wailing on it in frustration. Glass shattered as the man wildly hit anything nearby. Greg made sure to stay silent and out of view. But he had to get to the transit center. From there he could easily navigate to Arcadia. The man was on the second level, far away, and clearly had no idea that Greg was sneaking by. Greg focused on the man and then saw as another splicer walked up behind the enraged man.

"Did you get it open!" The new man shouted.

"No no no no no no… I can't! I can't! You promised me more!" The enraged man cried out.

"If you get it open, you twit!"

"I need it… more, more I need it." The enraged man hunkered over in a fit, clawing at his own hair. "I'll be skinny and the girls will love me! They'll love me!" He dived onto the cage and tugged, clawed, kicked and pulled. A metal rivet tore from the hinge and the man gripped the loosened frame. "Yes yes yes yes! I'll be skinny! They'll want me. ME!" With a little more effort the gate tore free and the two men ran inside.

Greg, in the silence, then realized that his heart was racing a mile a second. He breathed deep and slow, to help calm his shattered nerves. With the two splicers gone he made a run for it.

His boots thumped hard and loud, but he didn't care. For four days he had been exploring the streets of Rapture, and he knew this section fairly well. The transit hub was only a few hundred yards away. He put caution to the wind, and ran hard.

"I hear you, baby!" A female scream cackled in the distance. Greg spun, looking in all directions. "You running from me, again? You two-timing bastard! I'll kill you and that slut you've been sleeping with!" The woman was older, full figured and carrying a sword. She ran around a corner, to Greg's left, at full speed with the sword held high. Greg turned another corner and made a direct line for the hub.

The woman screamed a heartfelt cry, "You won't go back to that bitch anymore! You won't cheat on me ever again!" The Adam had twisted her mind, thinking that any man nearby was her cheating lover.

Greg ran hard, knowing that he had excellent foot speed in the open. Even with his injured shoulder, he felt he could easily out run the woman. A quick glimpse over his shoulder proved him wrong. She was gaining faster and faster with each step. Her speed perhaps aided by the magical Adam swelling in her system. Greg also noticed in his quick glimpse, that blood covered her from head to toe, as well as her sword. She had most likely already laid waste to a few unsuspecting males.

Greg's lungs burned from the run, his shoulder wound bled even more freely with the constant movement, and panic was quickly settling in. He rounded the last turn toward the hub and he felt the wind of the sword cut near the back of his neck. He didn't slow down to check if he was bleeding.

"I'll get you, I'll get you cheater…" A gush of flame swelled all around as the woman screamed in agony.

Greg stumbled forward on the concourse. He looked back to see that the woman was on fire and screaming. She dropped her sword and began to fan at the flames and eventually fell to the ground. A younger man jumped down from the nearby rafters and examined the corpse.

Had he been saved? Greg thought. Had an alley come to his rescue? The young man dug into the woman's burned clothes, tearing them off her as he examined every inch of her body.

"Adam, bitch! Give me the Adam! Where are you hiding it?" He tore off her burnt blouse, pants, and underwear. His hands worked all over her unrecognizable flesh. He then screamed in anger. He grabbed the last of the woman's hair and began to pull it out even more. Curses escaped his mouth as he jumped on top of her and began to stomp on her lifeless form.

He then stopped and glared at Greg.

"What are you looking at?" The young man smiled. "Did you take her Adam before me? You have it, don't ya?"

Greg rolled over, and crawled into the Bathysphere. He quickly pulled the lever for the Arcadia. The door closed, but not before the young man jumped inside with him.

"It's okay, buddy." The young man smiled as he looked down at Greg. "I only want to talk." The heat of his flames began to swell. "Did ya take my Adam?"

_To be continued…_


	11. Chapter 11

**XI: Prologue to War**

Greg sat frozen as the splicer glared at him maniacally. The man's features looked normal, unlike the tales that Christina had told of splicers in the past. He leaned closer and knelled onto Greg's chest, uncomfortable as it were, Greg was thankful to still be alive.

"Where are you hiding it?" The man smiled. His torn sleeves flung loosely about his arms as he gripped Greg's collar. The flame swelling within the man's left arm was radiating with heat, and Greg shied away from it.

"I didn't take it!" Greg begged, screamed, did whatever the man wanted to hear.

The sighed loudly, irritated and said, "simple little fish. I'm gonna burn ya up and eat ya! Give... me... the ADAM!"

"I said I don't have any!" Greg patted his pockets, showing that he didn't have the Adam the man claimed he took. But what he did feel in his pocket was the knife the young girl had stabbed him with. He nearly forgotten that he he pocketed it after he killed her. No, she wasn't a girl, a crazed splicer, that what she was. Greg thought to himself. And so is this guy! Crazed, maniac! With a free hand Greg pulled out one of his empty pockets and showed it to the man. The man eagerly watched, licking his lips in hops of seeing the goods he wanted.

While the man was distracted, Greg pulled out the knife from his other pocket. The long six inch kitchen knife was a great tool for carving meat. The man almost didn't react when the blade slammed into the left side of his neck.

"What's this now?" He stood up and staggered back. Blood raced from the punctured artery. Greg stood when the man climbed off him, glaring fixated as the knife protruded from the splicers neck. "You stabbed me..." the man pulled the knife out and more blood freely flowed. He gargled and cursed. "Little fish... you clever... little ... fish." Blood pooled as the man slid back against the Bathysphere wall and then rested in one of the side chairs. The red glow of his arm faded as his heart stopped and the blood stopped pulsing.

Greg cautiously leaned forward, grabbed his knife from the man's dead grip and wiped the blood off on the man's pant leg. He sat in the chair opposite his deceased attacker and began to tremble. Yet, his eyes never left the dead man's unmoving corpse.

- - - - - - - -

Mike stalked around the room. He hated doing nothing while Melissa was running around fighting crazed splicers. Karen seemed calm and collected. She leaned out the window of Langford's research office at the heart of Arcadia. The building was designed to be the center of Arcadia's botanical research. Karen and her sisters made sure that the office was kept in working order and that someone checked it's systems daily. Not even the researchers that had recently visited Rapture were aware of its existence, as they needed a special key to gain access.

Karen leaned into the window and watched below as the Daddies strolled around the forest, she had dozens of regular big daddies under her command, and four Angel's watching over them. The splicers would have a hard time overtaking Arcadia.

"Let them come." Karen sighed.

Thankful for the break in silence, Mike countered. "Who; the splicers?"

"Yes. We beat them back once, we can do it again." Karen stepped away from the window. Her arms folded and she walked toward the central table that Mike was posted against. On top of the table were several pages of maps and layouts of Rapture. Detailed plans were written out and highlights marked key areas to defend. Karen had her loyalists sister, and legions of big daddies, guarding those locations.

"But last time you didn't have you daughter pushing them." Mike objected. "We need to deal with her."

"In due time, outsider." Karen leaned over the map. "I'm quite sure she and her followers are holding up in Ryan's old office. My security alarm there was triggered and disabled." Not to mention that none of her sisters sent to investigate had returned.

"Then let me take a few Daddies over there, Melissa can back me up. We deal with the brats and then take out the splicers."

"You?" Karen smiled. That annoying smile that she always showed when she seemed unamused. "You know nothing of this battle, or the weapons that are in play. You can't use Plasmids or Adam, or you will become just another enraged splicer. The more you use it, the more you will lose yourself. There is no way for you to fight. And that is why Melissa made you stay here. Besides, someone has already gone and have yet to report back."

Mike felt defeated. He knew she was right. He had no power in this battle, and his skills at explosives were only good for setting traps.

"Just stand there, and look handsome." Karen giggled. "We sisters will protect you."

_"Mike... you copy?"_ The radio clicked from across the room. Mike walked over and grabbed it.

"Who is this?" He replied to the man's voice.

_"It's Greg."_

"How in the hell." He mouthed. "Great! Is Desmond with you?"

_"No, he's still on the military carrier. They sent me back. I need to talk with Karen. I'm docking at the Arcadia station now. I need some medical aid if you can give me a hand, mate."_

"Jesus... I'm on my way." Mike pocketed the radio and grabbed a medical kit. Karen shouted something but he have her a deaf ear as he ran. He reached the exit and was greeted by two Big Daddies that at first didn't seem to thrilled to see him, perhaps hoping it was their beloved Karen. They parted and Mike sprinted through the thick foliage. Big Daddies rested and walked everywhere he went, but then he heard a horrid commotion as he neared the sphere station. A big daddy roared loudly as he kicked and pushed the sphere. It was clear he was trying to get in and deal with the rider within.

"Karen," Mike shouted into the radio. "Call them off! They don't know Greg's with us!"

A second later the Big Daddy's fury ceased. He turned and looked at Mike, but then stepped away from the sphere. Mike ran up to the view portal and looked inside. Greg sat trembling in his seat. His eyes twice the size of anything Mike had seen. He knocked on the window. "Open up, we called them off. You'll be safe now."

With a trembling hand Greg reached over and opened the door. He slowly crawled out and fainted into Mike's arms.

When Greg awoke, he had almost written everything off as a nightmare. The bed he was lying in was soft and extremely comfortable. "It was just a dream." He said. Till he sat up and felt the stiffness in his shoulder. The bandage quickly began to turn red as blood began to flow through the fresh stitches. He gritted his teeth and fell back into the bed. Hopefully he didn't pop the stitches in his shoulder, or else they would have to be redone.

A soft set of hands rested against his shoulder, and he looked up into Melissa's eyes. "You've been out for about 4 hours." She said as she examined the bandage. "Doesn't look like you popped them. I'll get one of the girls to check it and be sure." She smiled softly, warmly. It was reassuring.

Mike's voice sounded to his left. "You've had one hell of a trip."

"Don't remind me." Greg sighed as he turned to face him.

"That dead splicer in the sphere, I assume you did that."

"Yeah. They're all bonkers! Nut jobs, the whole lot!" His breathing was becoming erratic again.

Melissa placed a hand to his head to relax him. "We're just glad you're alive. What happened before you got here?"

Greg sat up with Melissa's help. "The States want you to surrender peacefully. They don't want this to get bloody. They sent me down here to tell you that. Other than Bailey, the States actually have good intentions. They don't want the Adam research to fall into the wrong hands. Mainly terrorists or ..."

"Or Communists." Mike laughed. No one else shared in his humor.

Greg continued. "We have a little less than two days before they arrive. Give them clear passage, and nobody gets hurt."

Mike added again. "Bailey's a con man. He knew all about Jack, and I'm sure he has an ulterior motive."

"He does." Greg coughed. "He wants to sell some Plasmids and Adam on the black market."

"There ya go." Mike sighed. "Always a snake in the bush."

Melissa sat at the edge of Greg's bed. "With the splicers running around down here, there is no way we could even hope to end this peacefully. The military comes down, one soldier dies, and then we get depth charged."

Karen had remained quiet in the back of the room, but then walked forward. "You are considering giving in to this... country?"

"As an option," Melissa said, "yes."

Karen folded her arms. "Not everyone will be as.. optimistic with that idea. Namely myself."

"It's only an option. Believe me, I'd rather not consider it."

Mike cut in. "What do you propose, Karen?"

Karen looked at him through the corner of her eyes. "We talk to Kate and her followers. Tell them the situation. Our very destruction is at hand. Our.. _personal..._ little war will need to wait."

"I fail to see that changing anything." Mike barked. "Did you forget that your daughter, little Miss Kate, wants the military to come down here? She's hoping for some kind of savior to bring forth a new age, the way you and Jack did in '60."

Melissa stood and glared at Mike. Her eyes spoke truthfully; he was not one to give a reprimand. Instantly, Mike recalled that the military's invasion was, in some way, tied to his dealings. He hung his head and turned away. Melissa turned to Karen. "Though untimely, he does have a point. This is what they want. I don't think they care. If they die from a torpedo strike, to them, that was simply their fate. But in some way they are hoping for the exact situation as before. Our only option, really, is to stop them and attempt to regain control. Perhaps if we do that much, we can regain control and then... maybe, talk to the military leaders. No one knew anyone was down here, Karen. The scientists from the surface which studied Rapture back in the 80's never said anything about you being here. Rules can be made, perhaps even guarded..."

"And then we will fall under their rule." Karen huffed.

Mike sighed loudly, sitting in a chair in the corner, "Karen. You can't fight a major military power. You resist, they'll make Rapture vanish and kill you all."

Karen didn't want to admit defeat. She had fought all her life to rebuild Rapture. She endured the rumors of being heartless when Bridget Tenenbaum died. But none the less, those who lived on the surface world knew better than she. "My daughter, she brought this plight despite my best teachings." She leaned against the wall, her heart growing heavy with the memories that began to flood to the surface. "I wanted so much for her to be proud of me the way I was proud of my mother. Yet, I wanted so much more for her. I wanted her to see the surface, to see New York and France, and Germany. But instead, she has chosen this... this darker path to an end.

"They want to see the surface, but only through the memories and stories that they were raised on."

Melissa walked to her, and embraced her. "We have to make them listen."

"They won't."

Melissa sighed. "I know. I have an idea. Mike, tell me you still have a working camera?"

- - - - - - - -

The time had arrived. The deadline set by the military had come, and everyone stood upon the dock as two Navy troop transports sped toward them. Mike, Karen, Melissa and Greg stood side by side as the boats approached. A formation of jets zipped over the area and a Navy gunship sat several thousand yards out; most likely with its guns trained on them. One barrage from the gunship's massive artillery rounds would be the end of the Rapture's entrance. Then a helicopter began to circle the lighthouse.

Mike eyed the two transports nervously. "Marines. I'm sure they're waiting for the all clear to dock, probably from the helicopter. They're watching us closely."

"Should we wave a white flag?" Greg nervously said.

"Do you have one?" Melissa said.

"Only my boxers, but I doubt that it's still white now."

Mike fought against the smile that climbed on his face, and then burst out laughing. Melissa chuckled as well. But their laugh quickly ended as the two transports revved their engines to life, and sped toward the dock. A gunner mounted on top of the transport aimed at the massive .50 caliber machine gun at them.

"Put your hands in the air!" A soldier shouted over a bull horn. Everyone obliged. The two transports docked and the ramps descended. A dozen marines filed out, guns ready and aimed. They took up position all around the dock and the ramp leading into the Rapture. Greg's ears heard the sound of movement in the water, so he looked over the edge of the dock and saw scuba men climbing out from under the deck. They climbed up the metal rocks and aimed their guns as well.

Once a soldier shouted all clear, two men descended from the second transport. One wasBailey and the other was a man they didn't know. The man was older, well groomed and only carried a basic side arm on his hip. His battle dress uniform was plain unlike the other marines, decorated with armor and various gear, and instead of a helmet he wore a hat.

"Corporal Bailey," the man said, "inform me of who these people are."

"Sir." Bailey barked. "Left to right; Greg, Melissa, Karen and Mike. Karen is the current leader of Rapture and its inhabitants."

"Madam." The man smiled and nodded. He then turned to a man behind the group. "Sergeant Haze, you and first squad are to go down to the first chamber and secure it."

"Roger that." The man did a quick jog leading toward the entrance to Rapture.

"Wait!" Karen blurted. The man stopped, and several soldiers took aim at Karen. "That wouldn't be such a good idea."

The man in charge walked closer. "Lower your hands." Melissa and the group did so. He removed his hat and smiled. "Why not?"

"I'm am sure that Bailey informed you that we are not alone?" Karen stated in her softest and smoothest German accent. She said it in such a way that her words almost rolled of her tongue. The man in charge seemed to like it, and she continued to pour it on. "Since Bailey left, our inhabitants have split. Our population has once again gone... mad."

The man nodded his head. "Splicers?"

"Yes." Karen admitted. "Good to know you are up to date on our history. We have been fighting these past two days to regain control. I did not wish for you men to go down and be harmed."

The man understood in depth, he had done his homework. "Sergeant Haze!" He shouted.

"Eh, El Tee?" Haze replied.

"Get down their with first squad, and set up a perimeter. Expect hostiles, and use lethal force. Do not, I repeat... do.. not... fire on the big daddies."

"Roger that El Tee!" Haze broke into s sprint and ten men fell in formation with him.

The Lieutenant extended his hand to Karen and slipped his hat under his arm. "Lieutenant Dan Reid. I'll be in charge of this operation until we have established a true Threat Assessment." Karen shook his hand and smiled.

Dan Reid pulled his hat snug on his shaved head. A graying red mustache shined across his tanned white skin. He looked at Greg and walked closer to him. "I believe we owe you a great deal of thanks, and our sincerest apologies, young man. I was not truly informed of your, situation on ship, until a few moments ago. Due to military code of conduct, and a whole line of international BS, it would appear that one Corporal Bailey has been... out of line."

Bailey stood at attention and didn't move at the comment.

Reid continued. "We shipped your friend... what's the boy's name?"

Bailey voiced, "Desmond, sir."

"Yeah, we sent him back to his homeland on a fast ride. Hopefully he'll be content with what we gave him, and what we will do with Bailey when this is done." Reid looked at the Corporal. "Sad day. God damned Army boys. A Marine never would have miss handled this mess."

Bailey bit his tongue. It was one thing for the Lieutenant to bad mouth him, as he was doing things for his own reward, but it was another thing to bad mouth his branch of the US armed forced. So he kept his calm, and dared not back talk a ranking officer.

Reid began to move toward the group, waving for Karen and the others to follow. "Madam, I will have to ask you to go back down with me and my men. The rest of you can stay top side. Second Platoon is inbound and they will be assigned to keep the surface in check, while we work in Rapture. Oh, and there is the formality of you signing your surrender." With a casual smile, Reid pulled the Key to Rapture from his pocket and gave it back to Karen. "A show of good faith."

"Thank you." Karen smiled. "Yes, we will need to discuss that."

Melissa cleared her throat. "Sir, I'm coming down. This is my home." Mike agreed, but Greg showed his hesitation. "We understand if you don't want to go, Greg." Melissa smiled. "You've done enough."

Greg lowered his head, in shame. He just didn't have the nerve to go back, though part of him new he should. He had become invested in this battle, no matter how much had happened to him.

He was about to speak up when Mike cut him off. "You were stabbed. You're best friend killed before your eyes. You killed two people, one of them a young girl, in self defense. You go back down there, you will have to fight again. Your done, man. Stay here."

Greg sulked. Even though he knew it was all true, hearing it spoken from someone else made it seem like he had done more than his fare share. He nodded softly and walked toward the troop transport.

Reid barked. "Corporal Bailey, get your ass in gear. You were guarding this place, so give me a tour."

Bailey sprinted to the front as second squad ran ahead. More men fell in line behind Melissa and the others as they all prepared to descend into Rapture.

"El Tee..." Barked a radio. "We're getting hit hard down here! I repeat! We are under heavy assault!"

Reid gripped a radio from his belt. "Sit Rep! Over."

"Splicer's sir." Haze replied from his position in Rapture. "We count five! They're fast! Bullet's aren't hurting them! Shit..." The sound of automatic rifle fire sounded in the background of the radio as Haze screamed orders. "... move, he's over there! Get him! Damn it, Rolle's down! Get Rolle back! Somebody get Rolle!!"

Reid shouted into the radio. "Haze! Regroup! We're coming! Out." Reid and the others ran up the ramp and into the main entrance. "Second squad, lock and load. Get down there."

"Sir." Karen interrupted. "It may be best if Melissa and I go with them."

"No ma'am. You are not going into harms way. Unless you have something to with the attack on my men?"

"Mr. Reid. As I told you, some of our residents are hostile; splicers. We've been fighting them but we could not contain them all. And... this is my city. I go wherever I please. If you want to save your men you need us to be down there."

_**To be continued...**_


	12. Chapter 12

**XII: The Angel approaches**

"Which one shall it be?" Kate said as she watched the screen.

"Which one could it be?" Her best friend said as she watched the screen.

"I would like that to be the one." The other girl said as she too watched the screen.

"He is handsome. A worthy angel." Kate said.

"Watch him dance, his wings beat upon an invisible wind."

"He'll be our angel soon." Kate smiled.

- - - - - - - -

Melissa and Karen arrived at the battle front. The sphere door parted and second squad raced out quickly. It was a tight squeeze with four marines and the two of them, but they needed to come down as fast as they could. The stairs leading into the main foyer of the station was echoing with machine gun fire.

"Damn it!" A marine in second squad yelled. "We need to get in there!"

"Hold your horses, man. We have orders to hold until the rest of the squad gets down here." Another soldier shouted back.

Karen and Melissa had no such orders. They walked forward.

"Wait, where are you two going?" The man shouted, but neither listened.

"It's been some time since I've truly wielded these powers." Karen voiced toward Melissa. "I had almost forgotten how it tingles." Melissa looked at Karen and immediately noticed that her features were changing. Karen no longer looked like a woman who was in her mid forties.

The Adam and Plasmids had enhanced her body yet again; restored her to a more youthful appearance. She now looked to be no older than twenty five. The wrinkles in her skin had been flushed away, her skin tightened to a young athletes texture. This affect was never possible in normal people, though many wished to claim the trick, it was only the little sisters who could use Adam in such a way. Its healing ability also provided a youthful appearance; yet it could not defy age.

Karen felt Melissa's eyes upon her and looked to her sister at arms. "Haven't looked in a mirror at yourself lately, no? You also look younger." Melissa rubbed her forehead and eyes. She couldn't feel a difference, but she took Karen's word for it.

At the top of the stairs, Melissa spotted dead marines and a few dead splicers. At least the soldiers were able to hold their own against some of the weaker foes.

Melissa walked further into the room as Sergeant Haze shouted out to them. "Take cover!" He stood up, leveled his rifle and fired just beyond Melissa. Melissa turned to see who or what he was aiming at.

A puff of red smoke marked the wall where Have had shot. The Houdini splicer was bouncing around the room, killing soldiers at random. Of the ten marines that came down only Haze and five other men remained.

"What are ya aiming at?" The Houdini laughed. "You got no business here. I haven't said you could rent from me!" Melissa recognized the voice. It was the old man that had offered to rent her and the others a room at Apollo square.

Melissa turned to Haze. "Watch your back! I'll deal with him!"

Karen folded her arms and stood near the wall.

In the middle of the room Melissa shouted, "I'll be taking Apollo Square off your hands!"

"Mine!" The old man shouted, his voice echoing from all directions. "It's mine you young bitch! I'll gut you like a swine or a rack beef!" The splicer puffed into existence then vanished once again. Melissa stood unmoving then looked over her left shoulder. Within a split second a surge of electricity engulfed her body and then expanded outward. The old man screamed as the static discharge flowed through him. He convulsed and froze in place as he reappeared. Melissa lifted a pistol to the man's head.

"You can't hurt me." She said.

The man stopped trembling and glared at her; wickedly he snarled at the barrel of her gun. Normally the voltage that Melissa had used against him would have been enough to kill him, but the Adam in his body gave him extra resistance to pain and injury.

"You can't have my Apartment!" He shouted. In his hand he brandished a knife and it was covered in blood from the marines he had killed earlier.

"Stop fighting, or die." Melissa countered. "I don't want your apartments."

"Oh, than how about we make a deal, precious?" He laughed. "Give me some Adam, and I'll give you your life?"

Melissa sighed softly. "No." She pulled the trigger. The bullet split through the man's forehead before he could make a second offer or vanish.

"Behind you!" Karen shouted. Two more Houdini splicers appeared behind Melissa; baring down with an axe and the other began to form balls of fire in his hands. Haze and his marines stood to fire but there was no need. In a blast of air, the two splicers were propelled away from Melissa. She spun around and quickly froze them both as they were flying backwards. The ice consumed them, freezing their bodies quickly in a thin coat of ice, and they shattered upon hitting the wall. Just then, second squad raced up the stairs, all ten men accounted for, and began to examine the room.

Melissa holstered her gun and looked at Karen. "Thank you."

Karen smiled. "Don't mention it." She walked closer to Melissa. "You've learned a lot about controlling your plasmids, but you haven't mastered them yet."

"If you hadn't pushed them away from me, I'd be dead by now."

Karen laughed. "Don't be silly. It would take a lot more than those two to kill you now." She then whispered, "but for our own protection, lets not tell these men this small detail."

Melissa understood. Once she began to consume Adam, her body once again became resistant to harm. Small wounds, scratches, cuts and bruises would heal almost instantly, thanks to the remains of the slug that exist within her. However, in those days before Jack had healed her, she was indestructible thanks to the sea slug. Though she was now resistant to harm, she was not indestructible; she could be killed.

Haze shouted orders. "Form a defensive perimeter around the station. Somebody give me a body count and police the bodies." The marines of first and second squad fell into line and followed orders. Haze walked to Melissa and Karen. "What the hell did you do? Is that the plasmid stuff the El Tee is talking about?"

Melissa didn't respond, but Karen spoke up. "Yes. And normal people, such as you, can not harness it without turning into them…" Karen pointed to the dead Houdini splicers. "Now. How do you and your men intend to 'assist' us in our predicament?"

- - - - - - - -

"Oh my, he lived."

"We should not have trusted this deed to the splicers. We should have sought the angel ourselves."

"We can not fight. Not now. Everything would be ruined."

"But the Angel is so close."

"Patience, sisters." Kate voiced. "Mother and her sisters did not get their angel in one day. We have time. We must be patient."

- - - - - - - -

Lieutenant Dan Reid and the last of the Platoon walked into the station. By now, all of the Platoon had gathered and were preparing their gear for the battle ahead. Sergeant Haze was quickly prepping everyone on the situation and what it was like to fight a real Splicer. Dan walked toward Karen and gave a heavy exhale.

"Is this enough?" He asked.

"No." Karen pulled no punches. "All of your men will die if they depend too much on their weapons. You can kill them, but you are not familiar with Rapture. A few Houdini splicers were able to kill half of your first squad. The odds are not in your favor."

"We need to be here. If we can't fix this problem this way, then way may need to be more destructive and none of us want that." Dan glanced at Bailey. "The army boy was here for two months, he can give us more info. The problem is that I don't want to risk the lives of my men, but either we establish control or we pull you and the others out and bury this city under a tonnage of US heavy artillery."

"You will not destroy my City, Mr. Reid."

"That would be my last option, ma'am." Dan sighed.

Bailey hesitantly cut in. "How about I take a few men? I know the lay of the city and how the Splicers work. We split our forces."

Melissa nodded. "I hate Bailey roaming free, but it can work. We also have other sisters protecting vital areas of Rapture. We could set up a coordinated offensive with them."

"Sounds like a plan." Haze huffed.

Dan agreed. "Our first objective is to secure the main key room. Uh…" He checked his notes. "Ryan's office at central control. From there we can control much of Rapture. Karen, you'll need to go there with that key."

"I'm sure those who are against us are there." She countered.

"Can't be avoided." Dan countered. "I'll give you two squads."

Karen disagreed. "That won't be necessary. The less men the better. I have an army of Big Daddies awaiting me."

Dan looked puzzled. "An Army?"

"Yes. Your men will only get in the way. Sergeant Haze and a few men can accompany me, along with Melissa, I will need her."

Dan nodded. "Alright." He then looked at Bailey. "Don't you screw up! You and this young man will go down to the power station, Hephaestus, with a squad. Secure it and radio in when the objective is complete. Corporal Smith, you have the squad."

A young black man stepped up. "Roger sir."

Mike nodded toward Bailey who was not at all thrilled to have him following. Bailey also wasn't happy about going into Rapture; he had never done it and hoped never to do so, but if he was going to secure a supply of Adam for his own personal goals it would be the only way.

Dan walked toward Karen and gestured to a small pad of paper in his hand. "The brass pulled together some terms of surrender on your behalf. I read it, doubt you'll agree. But before I let you run off, we need to work on this."

"Surrender… is not a phrase I care for."

He quickly commented as he looked in her eyes, "You look different. Is that the Adam?"

"Yes." Karen smiled. "It is due to the regenerative affects that lye dormant within me. Do you like what you see?"

Dan smirked and turned his attention back to his notes. "Here is a summery of what they want." Dan listed off the demands. "Full access to Rapture and all its weapons stores; complete inventory of all Adam and Plasmids within Rapture.."

"Stop." Karen rubbed her temple and cursed in German. "Here is what I will give you. Write it down and I will sign it." Dan nodded. "You can station your men here for any duration of time so long as they respect the … peaceful inhabitants. You may come and go as you see fit, and any station in Rapture is open to you except the private homes of our residents. You can see our inventory of Adam, but you can not remove or study it. It is far too dangerous. However, I will let you study as much of our other research as you need. The Lazarus Vector could prove to be quite useful."

"Not sure they'll agree to this." Dan finished writing. "But it's a start." He handed the pad to his communications officer.

"This will be a long negotiation." Karen smiled. She then turned and began the long trek toward the Metro Station.

"Be careful, ma'am." Dan crossed his arms as he watched Karen, Melissa, Sergeant Haze and a two other men walk off. He then turned to Mike and Bailey. "Corporal, I don't like how you handled things down here, so let me be blunt. This is your one and only chance at redeeming this mission."

Bailey grunted. "Yes sir." He fought hard not to roll his eyes at a superior officer.

Mike smiled. "I'll keep him in line, sir." Bailey glared at him sternly.

Corporal Smith walked forward. "Let's go you two."

- - - - - - - -

"He's coming to us."

"How convenient."

"Should we great him and Miss Karen?"

"I don't know about that. He is not an angel yet. He may try to harm us?"

"Isn't that exhilarating?" Kate giggled. "Knowing that they are coming to fight us, to stop us from fulfilling our dream?"

"Careful, Kate." The youngest said. "We must remain focused. Else we shall be seen as Fontaine, and your mother will be seen as Andrew Ryan. Are we not to be the victims in this play?"

Kate thought for a moment. She glared at the images on the black and white display as Karen, Melissa and Haze walked the streets of Rapture. "Call off all of our defenses."

"Why?"

"We must not be the aggressors, we must be the victims. You are correct. Our Angel must feel the need to save us, to free us."

"How can we change this now? We are in control."

"She is right." Said the little one. "Our Angel must be pure. Our savior."

Kate turned to the middle girl. "Clear their path. Call off the Splicers."

The middle girl placed her hands upon her face to cover her panic. "I can not! I can not! They are our strongest splicers! The only way to call them off is to forcefully remove them! What have we done?"

The little one spoke with a smile. "Perhaps this can be to our advantage."

Kate and the middle girl looked at her strongly, and then suddenly they understood.

"Shall we go, girls?" Kate smiled. "There will be pain, we may die, but this is our path. We will have our Angel, or die trying."

- - - - - - - -

Melissa, Karen, Mike, Bailey, Sergeant Haze and Corporal Smith with nearly a dozen soldiers, traveled toward Hephaestus knowing that at any moment they could be attacked. After traversing through Arcadia in order to pick up twelve Big Daddies, they moved toward Fort Frolic. Surprisingly, Fort frolic was barren of Splicers. As the group neared the entryway just beyond the welded door of Fort Frolic, Melissa and Karen looked over the men and women with them.

"So far it's been quiet." Melissa sat as she waited for the marine to cut through the bulkhead door. "Not one splicer has moved against us."

"They may have killed each other off. Those who survived may be too weak to challenge such a large group." Karen leaned against the wall.

Sergeant Haze walked forward. "Still, we can't let our guard down. Once inside Hephaestus, we may be against a large group."

Melissa nodded. "They sealed this door before we even realized they were attacking. I can guarantee their defenses inside will be tight."

The door groaned open. Four Marines scanned inside as the soldier with the blow torch backed away. "Clear," on of the soldiers shouted.

Haze stepped forward. "Corporal Smith, you know your job. Clean out the room and secure the main power grid. Sound the all clear and we'll move through to Central Control."

Smith, with Bailey and Mike, stepped through. Behind them walked all of Second and Third Squad. Twenty two men strong, they slowly traversed the ramps and hallways toward the central power plant.

Smith radioed back. "Main entryway is clear."

Haze nodded toward Melissa and Karen and his two subordinates. They walked into the tunnel. Ahead of them, Haze and his team reached the power planet.

Standing along, the splicer seemed to be waiting. "Sinners!" He screamed. His eyes flashed brightly as he roared a powerful scream. "God… shall… judge thee!"

A wave of cold exploded from his arms. Like a tidal wave, it pushed across the floor. Smith, Bailey and Mike dived clear, but two men didn't react fast enough. They froze instantly in place and exploded into piles of meaty ice.

"Fire at will!" Smith ordered. The marines took position in the best cover they could. Rifles barked and the man stumbled back, yet refused to die.

"Foolish, nonbelievers!" A wall of ice rose in front of him, blocking the projectile weapons.

"Fire in the hole!" A marine shouted. Instinctively everyone took cover and an explosion blew apart the wall of ice and sent the man rolling back. He staggered to his feet and the marines resumed firing.

"Unbelievable." Mike mouthed. "He won't go down."

Bailey remained in silent awe.

Smith fired from a door frame, and then took aim at the man's head. The rifle barked and the ice man stumbled back grabbing his temple. He screamed in pain, but he didn't fall.

"_Corporal, status?"_ Haze echoed on the radio.

Smith took cover, "There's a guy blocking our path. He's huge, and throwing ice at us. We can't drop him!"

"_Hold fast. Melissa is on her way. Over!" _

Smith pocketed the radio and watched as the man charged a covered position with three marines behind it. Two of the men dodged clear as the man smashed through a crate, grabbed one of the three marines and slammed his face into the wall. The marine never screamed, and his body twitched as he slid to the floor. The man then turned and threw another tidal wave of ice at a pack of marines. Thankfully everyone was sharp and managed to get clear.

Smith threw a grenade, "Get down!" The explosion rocked the iceman off of his feet. He hit the wall with a loud thud, shook his head and jumped back up. "Damn it, die!" Smith and his men continued to fire. "Everyone disperse!" The marines jumped into motion. Smith grabbed Mike and pulled him into action. Bailey, having military training, knew what to do. The marines fanned out around the area, all lining up at angles that they could shoot, but take adequate cover, and not accidentally fire on an ally.

Without warning, a small female figure sprinted past them all. It was Melissa, and she didn't break stride even while the marines were firing.

Mike screamed, "cease fire! Cease fire!" Hearing Mike's scream and seeing Melissa sprint past, the marines stopped shooting.

The ice man laughed. "I'll send you to hell as well, bitch…" Melissa's arms were engulfed with flames as she hit him. The man tumbled back, holding his broken jaw. She held up her fist and as she punched, balls of flames streaked toward the iceman. He jumped clear, screaming in pain. "My jaw!" he shouted.

Melissa watched as he waved a tidal wave of ice toward her. She easily shunned it off with her left hand, melting the cold before it came too close. Then, with a thought, her right arm changed. The flames that boiled within the veins of her right arm faded, her DNA changed instantly. Her right arm began to glow blue, replacing the red glow, and surged with electricity. Melissa side stepped another wave of ice and pushed both arms out; one of fire and one of electricity. A powerful ball of charged blue flames broiled across the floor.

The iceman screamed in terror. He held up his arms and made a wall of ice, which instantly evaporated under Melissa's assault. The iceman's scream was suddenly silenced as his body burned to that of charcoal. Electric discharged across him as he fell to the ground.

Melissa stood motionless for a second as two big daddies finally caught up to her. The two Angels took defensive positions on either side of her. Clearly she was too fast for the big daddies to keep up.

"Check him, bubbles. Make sure he's dead." Melissa ordered. The two big daddies jogged forward and examined the body.

Bailey silently whispered to Mike, "why would you not want that power?"

Mike had nothing to say. He reached into his back pack and made sure that his camcorder was fully charged. When Bailey wasn't looking, he began to record. Keep talking, Bailey. Mike thought to himself. Give me what I need to put you away for good.

The two big daddies walked back and began to grunt. Melissa nodded then looked back to the Marines. "He's dead, but I doubt he is the only one here."

Smith nodded. "Right… okay…." He was still stunned by what he had just seen. "Fan out. Check every corner. Three man teams. Shout if you find another one of those … things. Don't take it on by yourself."

Smith picked up his radio. "Sergeant, you can move forward. But stay clear of the power room until we can confirm zero hostiles."

"_Roger that."_ Haze replied.

Melissa walked closer to the charred remains as the two big daddies stood watch nearby. She knelt down over the man and smiled.

"I wish I had my probe, bubbles." Melissa giggled as poked the corpse playfully. "He's full of … ADAM."

_**To be continued...**_


	13. Chapter 13

**NOTE:** Sorry for the delay in this, it's been sitting on my PC for about a month and I never pushed myself to edit and post. You'll notice that this is a short chapter, and the conclusion may be roughly the same length. Look for the finale soon.

* * *

**XIII: Lure of Death**

Mike didn't know if it was the smell of the charred flesh, or the smell of the various oils used within the machines, but his nose burned from the stench of it. He forced a sneeze to ease the sensation. Bailey turned and looked at him, but thankfully Mike's hidden camera was out of his view. Mike waved him off. "We should get going."

With a loud sigh, Bailey said "not without the Corporal. I have to obey chain of command."

"That's right." Mike laughed. "You have to follow orders."

Corporal Smith walked over to their encampment. "Area looks clear, but I'm not taking chances. You two stay with me and my patrol." Smith turned to another man. "Contact the El Tee. Give him our Sit Rep."

Sergeant Haze wondered close. "I'll take a small fire team inside to Central. This spots all yours."

"Yes sir. Good hunting." Smith said.

Mike looked toward Melissa as she happily poked the dead body of the iceman. He wondered toward her, and could hear her words.

"So much Adam, Bubbles. Look it. Look it!" Melissa said.

Mike was within five feet now, and he could hear the two Big Daddies turn toward him. Instinctively, seeing the massive guardians glaring at him, he stopped. "Melissa?"

She quickly turned to face him. Her eyes were emotionless and blank, but with that she quickly smiled. "He was full of Adam. But now, he's an Angel… dancing. Can you see him dancing? See his wings?" She turned back to the body.

Mike took a step forward. "Meliss…"

Both Big daddies stepped in his path, roaring disapproval. Melissa jumped to her feet and stood behind them. "You don't come near me!"

Bailey and Sergeant Smith saw this. "What the hell is going on?" Bailey huffed.

Mike waved them off without turning to face them. "Don't come any closer. It's like she's…"

"Regressing." Karen walked past Smith and Bailey and stood with Mike. "This should not be happening."

"No shit." Mike agreed.

Melissa looked around the two Big Daddies and saw Karen. "Hi, Karen!" She ran forward and grabbed Karen's hand. Pulling Karen toward the dead splicer she began to point at its corpse. "Adam! So much Adam! Look! We need to get it."

"We are not gatherers anymore. What is wrong with you?"

"We can't let it go to waste…" Melissa's words were cut short when Karen suddenly slapped her, spinning her head sharply to the right. "Awww!" She moaned.

The two big daddies roared in protest but Karen faced them. "Stay your place!" She ordered.

They froze.

Turning back to Melissa, she said, "what has happened to you, sister?"

A lone tear trickled from Melissa eye as she rubbed her cheek. The pain was long gone, but the act still lingered in her mind. "I … I have nothing on the surface." She sniffled. "The other girls have families, careers, but I … I couldn't. This was all I knew. I left with Jack because I hoped… I hoped there would be more for me up there. No one adopted me like the others. I lived in the system. My sisters were my only real friends growing up… and they visited me in the shelter whenever they could, but they had their own lives to live. I wanted to come back. I wanted to come back! I'm sorry I didn't! I couldn't find my way. I told myself that I didn't really want to come here, but my heart cried out every day."

Karen cradled Melissa's head onto her shoulder.

She sobbed. "I finished school, and got a job, and that has been my life. I was miserable."

"Hush now, my sister." Karen coddled. "We have no time to be weak at this moment. I need your strength."

Melissa pushed back and dried her eyes. "I know. I lost myself. Sorry."

The Com officer stepped forward. "Sir. El Tee confirms that second platoon is top side. They are sending support down to us now."

The marines all cheered, happy to know they were no longer alone. Haze nodded and looked toward Melissa and Karen. "Shall we go ladies?"

- - - - - - - -

Kate stepped in front of the three massive splicers. They were full of Adam and swelling with the enhancements to their muscles. "You are no longer needed." She stated.

"You promised us!" One of the men yelled. His voice was high pitched and cracked with each word. His breath seemed to boil with fire and his eyes glowed. The man was no longer a man, he was a weapon unleashed by three little girls, and the two other men beside him were exactly the same.

"And we will hold up our end of the bargain." Kate said.

"No you won't! You're just like that bitch mother of yours!" The man roared. "She promised us more space, instead she locked us up in Apollo Square… we're not going to stay silent!"

The other man cut in. "They're trying to cut us out of another deal. This is what those sisters do! They all lie! They lie! They lie!" He began pulling his own hair out. What little he had was clumped in his hand as tiny beads of blood began to dot his balding head. "I'm tired of the lies! Too many lies!" He lashed out, slapping Kate across the chest. The girl was flung across the room and landed against a pile of boxes.

Kate's two friends simply smiled. "Today will be a glorious day." They each looked up as the three men charged toward them."

The youngest girl shrieked suddenly and loudly. Four big daddies charged into the room. The three men, seeing the big daddies approaching, roared and began to throw fire and ice toward the daddies. The two girls giggled as they retreated toward the big daddies.

"Save us, Mr. Bubbles!" The middle girl playfully gestured. Even though their lives were in danger, the girls couldn't help but be overjoyed with the excitement. They were finally living their dreams. They were sisters, but better than that, they were the daughters of the sisters.

Kate pushed the box off of her. She felt the wound on her chest and quickly examined it. It was healing, faster than she thought. She looked across the room as the splicers fought against the big daddies. Four big daddies would not be enough to stop the three powerful splicers she had made, but that wasn't the plan. The plan was to have a battle; a final battle where their angel would come and save them. He would come, and he would arrive just in time. Kate fought back the urge to fight against the splicers, bottling her anger and focusing on her dreams, her dreams would come true. Soon the door would part and the man they had deemed their Angel would run to save them.

She climbed free of the boxes and ran toward her sisters. "Kill them Bubbles! Kill them!" Caught in the wave of emotions and the frenzy of the moment, the eyes of Kate and the two friends began to glow.

- - - - - - - -

With Hephaestus Core secure, everyone pushed toward Ryan's Office; Central Control of Rapture. Karen felt her pocket and the key was still secure. She didn't know what she was going to say to her daughter, if her daughter was indeed inside.

Melissa held a short wave radio in her hand and continued to call out. "I repeat, can any of you hear me?" With a sigh she pocketed the device. "Nothing from the four sisters we stationed here. I hoped they escaped."

Karen nodded. "As do I. Though my daughter did not grow up in a time of war, she has learned all that I knew. She either has them as hostages, or eliminated them earlier."

Melissa looked back to the others. "You sure you want to come? This will be dangerous."

Mike smiled. "As bad as the iceman? I can't wait." Haze was silent and focused on what was about to come. Behind them was Bailey and four other marines. Bailey knew that his best chance at Adam was in Ryan's office.

Ahead of them all were ten Angel Big Daddies. They stopped as they neared Ryan's Central Control office door. They looked back and Karen nodded. The big daddies readied their weapons and pushed open the massive door.

- - - - - - - -

Kate rolled back as her big daddy's frozen form was smashed by the enraged splicer's hulking fists. She turned and began to run, not showing any sympathy for the fallen big daddy. Two more Big daddies fell to the power of the other two splicers, leaving only one daddy to protect them.

"Where is he?" The little one screamed. "Why hasn't he come?"

Kate stood with the other two girls as the last big daddy bravely charged into the three splicers. The first splicer caught the powerful drill arm of the daddy, and even with the drill spinning into his hand and cutting away flesh, the splicer seemed unaffected. A discharge of electricity swelled around the big daddy and the other two splicers closed in to attack its dazed state. The second splicer punched the big daddy and knocked him backward, and the third splicer covered him in flames.

The big daddy struggled to ignore the flames and fight, but the damage was too great. As he began to move back toward the three splicers, he fell under his own weight.

The three splicers turned toward Kate and her friends. Slowly Kate stood in front of them. She thought everything would be alright. Perhaps they would get hurt in the battle while their angel struggled to save them, but it was becoming painfully clear that their angel would not arrive in time and that could mean death. However, Kate had no plans of dying. Her eyes still glowed but now the back of her neck began to boil just below the skin. She took one step toward the three splicers and heard the familiar sound of a metal door groaning open.

The door of Ryan's office had finally parted. The Angel had arrived.

Kate inhaled as much air as she could and then screamed, "Save us!"

The three splicers looked at her funny and then they heard the thud of big daddies entering the room. They looked back and were surprised to see that these big daddies were the personal bodyguards of Karen Tenenbaum. Four of them charged into the room, with four more following close behind. One of the splicers tossed flames onto the Angel Big Daddies, but the flames blew out almost instantly. Another splicer tossed ice, but the big daddies blew through without slowing their pace.

The big daddies began to fire their powerful rivet guns, tearing into the splicer's flesh, but for some reason the splicers could not heal as fast as they had before. The Angel's rivet guns were infused with some form of Adam that counterattacked their healing.

Happy that their lives were saved, Kate looked eagerly passed the Big daddies. "Where is he?" She said with a soft sigh.

"I do not see him!" The little one shouted in disappointment. Only the big daddies appeared in the room.

"Wait!" Kate pointed toward the door as four men staggered into the room. Haze, Bailey, Mike and one other Marine. "He has come."

The middle girl turned to the splicers. "Do it now!"

Confused, the lead splicer dodged a rivet and looked passed the big daddies. He saw several men, and it was just as the girls had said. They were mostly military men. She hadn't lied to them. The military was coming to take over and take their homes away.

The plan had originally been to protect Ryan's office from being taken control of. That was why the three men volunteered to receive the power, but when Kate told them, only a few moments ago, that they were no longer needed, the men thought they were being cut out of the deal. If they successfully protected Central Control, Kate promised them a king's ransom and habitat within any location in Rapture.

The lead splicer leapt into action, and his two partners eagerly joined him.

**To Be Concluded...**


	14. Chapter 14 Part 1

**XIV: The Daughters of Rapture  
_Finale Part 1 of 2_**

The COMM officers sat studious with his headset on. His computer terminal created a green glow across his face as he read the report from command. Lieutenant Reid was not going to be happy with what the Brass was transmitting. Once the printer finished the orders, the man stood from his desk, tore the paper off the spool and looked over the Bathysphere station. Dozens of marines and officers walked about; taking pictures, drawing diagrams, setting up tents and sleeping quarters for the officers, the whole site was bustling with activity. With the counter terms in hand, the COMM officer jogged across the lot, past armed guards and deeper into Raptures secured levels. He found Lieutenant Reid inside the Medical area.

"Sir, new terms from Top Side." He handed the paper to Reid.

Dan Reid looked the paper over, reading it line by line. His heavy face turned into a scowl. "Damn. They can't make it any clearer than that." He placed the paper on a table and looked to his nearby officers. "We are about to make a lot of people very angry." He turned to his COMM officer. "Send word Top Side; we shall begin operation."

"Yes Sir."

* * * * * * * *

Kate's soft scream rolled across Ryan's immense office. "Save us," she said. Mike wasn't sure who she was talking too, but the Angel big daddies in front of him didn't wait. All ten of them charged forward, their rivet guns firing at the three Adam infused men before them. Ice and Flames swelled around the big daddies, but they seemed unfazed.

Bailey shouted, "We need to get to those girls and get them out!" Mike had his suspicions as to 'why' Bailey was so interested in the girls.

Haze shook his head. "Negative! Not until we clear those splicers. Form a defensive near those desks." The marines moved into action. Bailey bit his lip and did as he was ordered.

"Please!" Kate shouted to them. Her eyes locked onto Bailey, and for a moment Mike felt that she was calling to the man that had already shunned her. Yet as Bailey took cover, Mike watched as her eyes rolled toward him. He froze in her eyes, caught in a trance he could not explain.

"Get down!" A second marine shouted, but he couldn't move his eyes away from Kate. The battle nearby excalated and a wall of flames rolled across the floor; washing over Mike's body. His skin singed, his clothes ignited, and he patted at the flames hoping to extinguish them; yet his eyes never left Kate's.

Bailey grabbed his arm and pulled him down, it was then that the pain of his wounds caught hold and Mike screamed in agony. Bailey swatted the flames and the other marine poured water over him from his canteen. "Haze, his pretty messed up."

"Shit! Get him out of here!" Sergeant Haze watched as Mike struggled to stay conscious, and he then looked to the three girls. They were moving closer, avoiding the colossal fight in the center of the room, flame and ice and rivet rounds danced all around them, but they pushed toward his desk; unfazed. "They aren't scared." Haze suddenly realized.

"Where the hell is Melissa and Karen?" Bailey shouted as he struggled to find a good hold on Mike; his burned flesh was tearing as he pulled him, revealing the muscle tissue beneath.

"Let us help you." Kate whispered as she knelt at Mike's half conscious side.

"Where did you come from?" Bailey gasped.

"Don't you talk to her!" Another of the girls yelled at Bailey. "You no longer have a place at her side." Bailey suddenly felt himself shifting backward. The girl had pushed him, yet she never raised a finger. He rolled back, onto his backside and tried to stand.

Kate continued to look at Mike. "There is much pain, but we can help you." As quickly as she said her words, she was holding a vile of EVE in her hand.

"Hey!" Haze shouted as he leaned closer to the girls. "Don't inject him with that!" The other Marine said nothing and only watched.

"Silence!" The third girl shouted at him. Haze rolled away, pushed by the same unseen force that had moved Bailey. When Haze regained his balance he could see that the needle was already plunged into Mike's neck and the serum within was glowing under his burnt skin. "He'll become a splicer!"

"You know nothing." The girl said as she walked toward Haze. "He is our angel. Our angel come to save us from you and your army." By now, Sergeant Haze had leveled his M-16 rifle and took aim at her. She was not afraid. "Kate chose him. She chose him when Bailey betrayed us. Now, he will free us and protect us. This is our time."

"Stupid girl!" Haze hesitated to fire. Before him stood a small blonde, no older than fifteen, and he could not bring himself to shoot. He watched as the other two girls, including Karen's daughter, held Mike down as he convulsed from the pure EVE flowing in his veins.

An explosion sounded behind them as an Angel big daddy roared and fell in a ball of flames. His red eyes faded black and life left him. The three super splicers, wounded but not defeated, continued to attack the remaining nine big daddies.

Haze looked back to the girl before him. "What do you want with him? What do you mean he'll protect you?"

Karen appeared from a dust of red smoke. Her eyes were the first thing anyone saw as they glowed through the puff of red, and then she slow faded-into her form. "Yes, Christina. Tell us."

"Karen!" The young blonde girl spun, her eyes washed with a blue glow as electricity pulsed up her arm. "This is not your war!"

"And you are all fools!" She grabbed Christina's arms and held her in place. Surges of electricity spiked all over Karen as Christina fought to get free, but the older woman was unaffected. "Kate. Get away from that man. He's suffered enough."

Kate sighed softly. "Mother. He is our future. Not yours."

"Stop living a dream, child. Look at what you have done!"

"What I have done?" Kate softly kissed Mike on the forehead as she stood and looked at her mother. "Mother, this is our war. I have done nothing but followed our dreams. It is all we have."

The second girl wrapped her arms around Mike and sat him up. "When a child dreams, they wish they can come true, Lady Tenenbaum. We are on the eve of seeing our dream become a reality."

"Not with him, you won't!" Melissa shouted as she appeared behind Mike and the young girl; fading in from a hole in the visual spectrum and surrounded by a cloud of red. She reached out to the girl holding Mike but the younger girl simply smiled and vanished in a puff of red and black smoke, with mike in tow. "No! Mike!"

Melissa turned to Kate in an angry fit and grabbed her. "You said you needed him! Where is she going with him?"

"Not far, I assure you." Kate smiled.

Karen hissed at Christina and tossed her away. The young girl shrieked as she hit the wall. She then turned her attention to her daughter. "What madness are you planning? You wouldn't… God! Failsafe Escorts!"

Bailey, nervously listening to the discussion, stood to his feet. "What's failsafe escorts?" Haze turned toward Bailey and wondered the same thing.

Kate spat in his direction. "The gift you gave up when you abandoned me!" She snapped her finger and Bailey's body was instantly engulfed with flames. The scream he unleashed was unlike anything Haze had ever heard from a living soul.

"Bailey!" Melissa acted as fast as she could, her arms changed and began to glow as wind swirled around her. She had to extinguish the flames and help him, despite how much she loathed the man, he didn't deserve to die in such a way.

Yet Kate was far faster. "He does not deserve your pity." Unaltered, unchanged, she pushed Melissa with an invisible force and knocked her from her feet. In that short time, the flames upon Bailey consumed him and his screams and struggling ceased.

Haze and the marine began to back away. Christina smiled happily at them as she stood to her feet. "Scared? Fear? Such emotions single life. Feelings course through us, and call to us."

Haze said nothing. He took aim and fired his rifle at her. Blood and flesh tore off her tiny form, as she screamed and crumbled to the ground. Haze took aim on Kate, but before he could fire he heard Christina erupt in laughter. Her sobs of pain washed away as her infectious laughter filled the room.

Holding her wounds she cried out, "It hurts! Oh my, it hurts so much." She stood up as the M-16 rounds fell from her flesh, being pushed out as if being rejected by her body. The wounds closed and healed in only a few seconds, leaving only small bruises. "Kate, the pain was so real. I felt it. Never have I felt something so real!"

Kate smiled in return.

Christina looked back to the two marines. "Let me show you how it feels. You will love it. The feelings. I'll share them with you."

Melissa and Karen acted quickly. Christina raised her arms as the electricity swelled over them. Karen jumped in front of Haze to shielded him, and Melissa covered the other marine.

Kate huffed angrily. "Mother! Do not interfere with our war!" A wave of ice rolled from her feet, curved around the two men and made a course toward Melissa and Karen. Melissa brought forth flame, and created a wall to block the speeding avalanche of ice, but her flame wall could not stop it. Melissa and Karen were tossed aside in the cold blast.

Christina smiled. "Thank you, sister." Haze gripped the marine and pulled him aside as they made a run toward the central controls exit. They weren't fast enough. The arcing bolts of electricity washed over them as Christina happily laughed over the trembling screams. "Pain is wonderful feeling, isn't it?"

* * * * * * * *

Mike didn't know if he was drowning or floating, but fluid was all around him. He opened his eyes to darkness and pain once again flowed across his body. He had felt the heat of flame, but he had also felt something else. Something soothing had entered his neck, and he lost consciousness.

His body felt heavy, almost motionless. He couldn't see. Why couldn't he see?

"How do you feel?" It was a girls voice, though it sounded muffled, as though it were underwater.

"I… can't …" His voice was heavy, fluid was in his mouth. He gasped and coughed. He tried to spit but realized that the fluid was also in his lunges. He was breathing the liquid. He could feel the warm in his chest, his throat, his nose.

"Talk slowly." She said.

"What … has… happened?" It was hard to breathe, hard to push the fluid up and down, in and out. He wanted to be free of it, but he couldn't move, he couldn't see.

"We saved you… I saved you." She said. "Open your eyes."

"I… can't." He slowly said.

"No. Open your true eyes." She said.

He had felt it before, but it didn't feel right to him. Something was different and unnatural. The feeling he felt, he gave into it. His eyes opened to a yellow liquidity haze. His head felt disoriented, and his eyes felt distant, but through thick liquid and beyond the helmets portal was the girl that was with Kate. Now he knew; he was inside the armor of a Big Daddy.

The girl leaned toward the portal and slowly his vision adjusted. "You see. I saved you. My sweet, sweet, angel." Her smile was comforting, yet the shock and horror of what he had become could never be appeased by a young girl's gentle smile. Inside the helmet, Mike could move his head freely. When he lowered his head, or what he thought was his head, he could see that his eyes were no longer inside his skull. His mouth was tightly closed and attached around a wide tube, and his skin was slowly being fused to the wall of the suit. Mike screamed in horror.

"We left you your voice, sweet angel. Don't be scared, the shock will pass soon enough." The girl leaned against him, against the armor of the suit. He could feel her warmth, her body against his, but not through the suit, or as if she were pressing it. No, he could feel her as if the armor was his own skin. What had they done to him? What had she done to him? "Soon, my angel, you will have your wings."

* * * * * * * *

Melissa and Karen had no other choice but to retreat to the aid of the remaining eight big daddies; one more had fallen in the battle against the three super splicers. Christina was no match for either Karen or Melissa, but it was Kate who was godly powerful. Her transition from one plasmid to another was nearly instant. Her control of the spells was mind boggling, and Karen couldn't fathom how her daughter gained such knowledge and control. Amongst the numbers of the Angel big daddies, they felt they had better odds. Yet first they needed to remove the three super splicers as threats.

"You brought the surface people here to take our home's from us!" One of the men roared in a mindless rage.

Another shouted, "We built this! We made this! We work and sleep in this! Not giving it to them! Ours! They can't have it!"

Melissa raised one into the air with a vortex, then ignited him into a ball of fire while he was in his ice form. The man couldn't change to any other form and his ice barrier melted quickly. Two big daddies fired repeatedly into him with their rivet guns, and this time the man could not heal himself. When the vortex stopped he fell into a lifeless heap of flesh and bloody bone.

While Melissa contested the other, Karen focused on the fire splicer. Swelling heat melted off his body as he tried to attack her. She kept her distance, using wind and electricity to keep him at bay. The Angel's at her side fired their anti-healing rivet rounds and threw grenades and trip mines near him. Even against the hail of fire power he always managed a moment to find cover and allow himself time to heal; the rivet rounds affect's were short.

Karen split her focus, dealing with the super splicer and making sure Kate and Christina didn't attempt to sneak up on her.

"If you fight us, mother, we will destroy you," was what Kate had told her. It was a dark revelation that her daughter possessed such powers, and showed no hesitation about fulfilling the act.

Back to the present, a wave of flames broiled near, and Karen shunned it away with a thick wall of ice. The super splicers would be simple compared to dealing with the two girls. Karen ordered two splicers to advance and they ran through the flames, nearly unscathed. The splicer punched one of them, sending the angel big daddy sliding backwards, while the other big daddy lowered its shoulder and charged into him. The splicer took the hit, tumbled, but quickly jumped to his feet. She had him, and the splicer was none the wiser.

Karen froze the rug beneath the man's feet, making it a sheet of ice so dense that it was almost as strong as steel. She then formed an ice wall behind him and beside him, while the big daddy fired his rivets into him. That was when the man realized he was in peril. Wounded and taking more hits, he was too far away from cover, and with each steep he took, his feet would stick to the cold floor. He tried to raise his body temperature and melt the ice under and beside him, but it was too cold. The second angel ran to the opening in the ice box and fired at him as well. Two rounds entered the man's skull and he collapsed lifeless. Karen wasn't finished. As the residual heat of his body faded, she froze him solid. The angel then stepped on him, its metal boots smashed his dead body and left only a pile of meaty ice.

The last splicer was more fearful than the other two. Seeing Bridgette Tenenbaum's heir and the stranger at her side struck fear in his heart. "I wanted to fight the surface walkers, not you! This aint what I was promised!" He looked back at Kate and Christina, his eyes filled with anger. "You.... promised. You said we'd fight them surface walkers, not little sisters! You promised! You did, you did, you did!"

He tossed a gust of air at Kate and Christina. Kate smiled and let the wind toss her hair, as if a warm summer breeze had blown. Though the same wind tossed Christina off her feet and she hit the wall behind her with a meaty thump. Kate pointed a finger at the man. "It is only a matter of time before your kind are defeated as well. But as for you, you served your purpose." From the tip of her finger, a mighty gust erupted. The wind tossed the man from his feet, sent him across the room, and impaled his body upon the Central Control station key terminal. The man screamed in pain, but held on to life. "A new world is coming to Rapture and your kind is no longer needed."

With a small gesture from Kate's finger, the man's body began to glow. He screamed in agony as bolts of electricity shot out of his mouth, ears and eyes. His hair and fingernails burst into flames from the heat boiling within him. The sight ended with a gory explosion of charred human meat.

Christina stood and rubbed her head. "How wonderfully powerful you are. All the better to be at our Angel's side."

Kate simply shrugged. "That was the piece that mother and her sisters lacked."

Karen heard this and turned toward her daughter. "What do you mean by that?"

"As children, mother, you and your sisters lacked the knowledge to use the power grandmother Tenenbaum gave you. You were indestructible with the slug within, but you gave it up. Your savior, Jack, should have taken your power for himself but instead he gave you life. That was the story you told us mother. The dreams we have, to have our war and defend our city, does not include weak little sisters. We, the Daughters and Sons of Rapture, will not be weak. And our Angel will stand at our side as we save our home."

Melissa hovered over Haze and the marine's electrically charred bodies. "Stupid girls with stupid dreams. Born of our chaos. Haunted by our past and our nightmares." She turned to Kate. "Hell spawned monsters!"

Karen Tenenbaum stepped closer toward her daughter. "Stop this, child."

Kate huffed with a chuckle. "I would rather not."

"Do no more harm, my child." She pleaded.

"Only when death takes me, and I will welcome its cold dark embrace."

"I had dreams for you. A bright future, a happiness I never knew… my stories... my life was never meant to inspire this."

"Tender words, too late."

Christina mocked. "Still weak in your frail age! Still talking when action should be made! Where's your strength, Lady? Where's your power to rule in this new age?"

Karen, standing before her daughter, reached her arms to her child in a soft embrace. She pulled her tight to her breast, and held the child she once nursed to life. The child she fed, clothed, taught, healed and watched for nineteen years. "You are not what I wanted you to be." A tear rolled from her eye as her lips trembled from the heartache within.

"Not what you intended, but all that you made me. Your tales of heroes, and war, of power and strength, and of good and of evil." They fell silent for a moment as she stood motionless in Karen's arms. "Do you remember why you slapped me, mother."

Karen squeezed her tight. "I was angry. You had given the man our key, helped him lead his army to our home."

"Why hit me then, but embrace me now?" Karen had no answer. Words fumbled at her mouth as she thought on what to say. Kate flared with rage in the silence and pushed Karen away; she snatched the key of Rapture from pocket in the act. "In this darkness beneath the sea, we Daughter's have only lived in _your_ dreams. _Your_ past."

Karen cried. "Tales not to be relived, but to be learned from."

With a smile Christina stood between them. "Ah, but we have learned from them. We learned... "

Kate softly spoke the words that Christina had yet to say. "Don't be weak." She held up the key to Rapture and looked at it closely.

Heat swirled around Karen suddenly, flames so hot that she could not fight them. Her ice vanished before she could summon it. She even summoned her own flame, merging with it in order to dim its heat, but even that merely slowed the inevitable. Her clothes ignited in a spiral wash of flames, her hair turned to spires of twisting yellow coils, and soon even her skin began to grow hotter than she could stand.

With all the desire born to live her dreams, Kate intensified the flame. Hotter and hotter she made it. Knowing that her mother could resist its heat, but not for long. "Farewell mother. I had hoped we could do this together. But I see that you are still too weak. Still that weak little sister that watched Jack leave her behind... so many years ago. You were strong when he left, strong enough to stand at grandmother Tenenbaum's side, and many splicers feared you, but that age has long passed."

"Karen!" Melissa shouted. The flames began to melt the bulkhead beneath Karen's feet. She thought to attack, to blow wind, or ice, anything to help Karen, but as she looked into the pillar of flames she could see Karen looking back to her. Karen's shape still existed, but now it was more of a moving red-hot cinder. Flames snapped at Karen's body, moving with her as if she were nothing but flame. Her eyes glowed blue from the heat within her. She was already dead, and nothing could save her. "Karen…" Melissa reached out to the sister of her youth. Together they were little sisters, but now their children had come to destroy them. Melissa didn't know why she thought of it, but at that moment she knew she should never have come back to Rapture. Melissa continued to watch, what seemed like an eternity, as Karen's body slowly faded away in the flames. Her body was too incinerated to scream or to speak, but upon the lips of pure fire her consciousness was still able to form words, and she mouthed… _"run"_.

* * * * * * * * *

"First Platoon! Atten-hut!" The sergeant gave the shout. All men stood firm and turned their focus to the forward door where they would be advancing soon.

Lieutenant Reid walked forward. "At ease." The men took a more relaxed stance. "Our orders just came through. Rapture is hereby designated a hostile zone. Upon receiving word that the majority of Rapture's citizens are now… Splicers, we have been ordered to forgo peace talks, and perform a clean sweep of the premises. Rapture is now under the control of the United States of America and shall be policed as so. This is hostile territory, maggots. And this man's platoon intended to make it a peaceful vacation spot for my pet dog. Understand me, there will be no peace at this time. We are hereby instructed to find and take into custody, Karen Tenenbaum, and Melissa. Do not fire on them. All other tangos are shoot on sight. Heavy weapons will take care of those Big Daddies…"

A puff of red smoke appeared at the Lieutenant's side. Everyone gasped and several men drew up their side arms. Melissa appeared from thin cloud, smoke snapping at her clothes as she fell to the deck with a hard thud. Sobs filled her rapid breathing as Reid shouted, "stand down! Medic! Get me a medic up here!" Reid knelt at her side and help her sit up; cradling her in his arms.

"No time!" Melissa huffed as tears rolled down her face, parting the dark sot on her cheeks. "You need to get everyone out. Now! They're coming!"

* * *

  
_Stay tuned for the conclusion._


	15. Chapter 14 Part 2

**XIV: The Daughters of Rapture  
_Part 2 of 2_**

Lieutenant Dan Reid could see that Melissa was frantic. He held her hand as the medic examined the wounds on arms and shoulder, but no sooner had the medic began to apply bandages the wounds healed on their own. Stunned the Medic reeled back in a panic, tossing his supplies and attracting more attention than Dan would have liked. "Calm down soilder. She's on our side." Or so he hoped. "Melissa, what happened? Where's Karen?"

Melissa gathered her breath. "Dead. They're all dead." She huffed as she reached for a canteen. She guzzled the contents, spilling water everywhere. "I tried to get to Sergeant Smith and tell him. But Kate was too fast. She killed everyone in power plant. Smith, his men, everyone."

"Kate? Karen's daughter?"

Melissa nodded with a heavy face. "She's coming. I know she is. But she's waiting for Mike. They took him, she said she needed him." She stood to her feet and finally notice the platoon around her. All eyes were on her, and most of them were holding guns at the ready, yet not fully aimed. She was making them nervous. She looked at Dan. "You need to get your men out of here. Save as many as you can."

Dan adjusted his hat. "If only we could. I have my orders. Rapture is hereby under USA control. We'll have to take out this little girl and whatever else that wishes to fight."

"You aren't listening to me. She killed her own mother! She intends to have a war and you are giving her what she wants. Kate is strong, and I don't know how she…" A hand reached through a thin vale of red smoke. Every one jumped back as the female arm gripped Melissa by the shoulder and pulled her suddenly back into the red cloud. Melisa vanished before their eyes, and before she could even scream in protest. The world around her shifted, everything was dark and hazy as she slipped between the visual spectrum. This wasn't a simple Houdini spell, an act of appearing invisible, this was far beyond it. She suddenly emerged beside a desk, laying on her back and cringing at the sudden transition. Her vision was blurry and her body tingled.

"Oh, you see, General. She's fine."

"You… could have… killed her."

Melissa couldn't see who was talking. She recognized the first voice, it was a young girl, and most likely the girl that kidnapped Mike. But the second voice, it was male yet heavy and faint and slow.

"No no silly. I'm the best at teleporting. I told you I could bring her here without Kate knowing."

Melissa squirmed, struggling to get to her feet while her vision slowly returned. She felt the grip of a gloved hand on her shoulder and jerked away. She was sure it was a big daddy, and if the girl was with Kate than the girls big daddy was not a friend.

"Melissa… are you… okay?"

The voice she couldn't recognize. It was deep and powerful, a man's voice no doubt, but muffled. She recoiled back and hit a wall. She rubbed her eyes to help speed away the blurriness. Light was returning and soon she could make out shapes.

"She's scared of you, General. She can't see yet. The first time is always rough."

The blurriness was getting better. She could see the thin silhouette of a young girl walking toward her. It was her, the girl that took Mike, and behind her stood a thin armored big daddy. His armored suit clung tightly to a man's athletic frame. The helmet was a solo portal design and a golden light peered from within.

"Mike?" Melissa said.

"Yes… Melissa. They… she… saved me… I think."

Her vision had fully returned. Unlike the normal large and heavily armored big Daddies, Mike was small, like his regular body, yet clearly he wore the traditional deep sea pressure suit of a big daddy. On his back was a smaller compact version of the life system that kept the living fluid of a big daddy circulating, and beside that was a rivet gun.

"I named him, General." The girl smiled. "My name is Tasha. The General asked me to save you, so I brought you here. Took me a long time to find you."

"Mike…" Melissa stood and walked toward him. "I'm… my God. I'm sorry they did this to you."

"No… don't be. Now… I can… help you. Like I… promised." He looked over his hands, turning them over and over. "I still… feel weird. Like… a dream. It's… scary… almost. But… I will… help you."

Tasha smiled. "He can use plasmids with no side effects now. The suit preserves a natural balance between his blood and the effects of Adam. Although, if he takes it off, he'll die."

"What?" Melissa grabbed Tasha but the girl vanished in a puff of smoke only to appear on the other side of the room. "What do you mean he'll die? Jack was able to take it off with only losing his voice!"

"Jack was born of Adam, born of Eve. He was a seed of Rapture, the child of Andrew Ryan himself, genetically altered by Lady Tenenbaum and Doctor Suchong. The General was but a man. Like all that dawn the suit, they must become one with the suit. But Kate and I were able to make him special. This suit is better than all, and far stronger than the Angel Big Daddies. The General can harness all plasmids without the ill effects." She jumped over to Mike's side and hugged him. "He's our Angel! I love him so much! You'll protect me, won't you General?"

Mike angled his head down toward her and then looked to Melissa. "First… I need… the key… to Rapture."

Tasha giggled. "Just like the stories!

"This is no story, Tasha." Melissa huffed. "Kate is crazy, obsessed with a story that she never understood and is killing anyone that gets in her way. You think your war is just, but a war you begin is not just. It's madness. People are dying because of what you three have done. She killed her own mother!"

"What?" Tasha was truly shocked. "Kate killed Lady Tenenbaum?"

The intercom buzzed, filling the room with a soft woman's hum. "My dear, Tasha. Dear, dear, Tasha. Are you trying to keep our Angel to yourself?"

Christina's voice giggled in the background. "Traitor, traitor… traitor. Tasha, you must be a traitor."

Tasha wondered into the middle of the room. "No! Kate, you said the story would be the same. Our Angel would fight the evil!"

The intercom buzzed. "Tasha, for every Andrew Ryan, there must be a Frank Fontaine. That is the base of our story, the root of our war."

Melissa shouted. "You killed your mother!"

"So does that make me Fontaine, the traitor to Andrew Ryan's conquest? Or does that make me … Atlus the savior, hero to all of Rapture?"

Melissa voiced. "Atlas and Fontaine were one and the same. Atlas was not the hero, Kate. Atlas was the villain."

Tasha shook her head. "Then you've made your choice."

Christina giggled. "Oh, now we have our sides. Plain and clear. Atlas, Fontaine, Ryan and Jack. The players are on stage… dance puppets, dance!"

Kate huffed on the line. "So be it. We need evil. We need a hero. Everything is as it was prepared. Do you feel it, Tasha?"

"Yes." Tasha smiled. "The excitement of it. And it's real."

"Do you love him?"

Tasha looked to Mike and held his hand. "He is my General. I will fight by his side."

Christina laughed loudly in the background of the intercom. "And now we make our own tale! Two sides, one coin! Let the war begin!"

Kate huffed, her voice echoing all across the room. "You have one choice, but all the players are the same. Christina is going to fight the army, while I prepare to ascend to the realm of Gods! Can you stop us?"

The intercom cut off.

"What the hell does she mean? Ascend to the realm of Gods?"

Tasha looked at Melissa. "Where you killed Fontaine. We call it the Realm of Gods when we played war as kids."

"What part of this didn't you think was evil?" She yelled. "How could you plan this?"

"You have to understand, that after the Angel arrived, we had no plans. From here on the story is new. We were all on our own as soon as the General was hurt. I brought him here to change him. It could have easily been Kate or Christina, but I was the one he chose."

"I… didn't… choose."

"You didn't reject me. And here I am at your side."

"This is stupid." Melissa huffed. "You planned this all. Living a tale, causing a war, and now at the end, you divide? You three are insane."

"I'm seventeen years old. I have lived my entire life underwater. I have listen to the story of Jack the hero all of my life, and hearing the tales of the little sisters was what we've dreamed of all our lives. Kate has chosen to be evil, just like when we played make believe as kids. When you choose to play war, you always pick sides. Kate killed her mother, because she knew she was evil the moment I brought the Angel here. This is our war, the war we've played all of our lives as we mimicked your story to the best of our imaginations." She lowered her head and wiped a tear away. "But this war is real. Some of us are going to die."

"Some… are already… dead." Mike grumbled he began to walk toward the door, his heavy boots loudly thundering on the ground.

"What shall we do?" Tasha followed.

"I need… the key. Melissa… save the… marines."

Melissa jumped in his path. "You can't fight her! She's too strong."

"He won't be alone."

"Go,… Melissa. Tasha is… with me."

"Do you even know how to use the plasmids?" Melissa asked and she watched as Mike's body began to change from blue to red. From green to yellow, and finally gold to normal. He nodded toward her. "Tasha… taught me."

* * * * * * * *

The bathysphere station was bustling with activity. Marines ran from place to place, readying their gear and ammo. Dan Reid strapped on his armor and secured his side arm. "Second Squad, you have point. COMM, radio top side and tell Second Platoon that we are advancing. Notify the Captain that he can start sending more troops."

The rush of waves filed the room as a bathysphere emerged from the water. The round submersible bobbed a few times and then came to a sudden stop as the hydraulics locked it to the ramp. The door slid open with a mechanical whine and a young blond girl stepped out.

"Hello, bad men." Christina smiled. "I'm here to kill you. Please, die for my war."

Dan shouted. "Shoot her!" Several men stepped forward, but the young girl's looks made them hesitate.

She smiled and glanced at Dan. "You must be the leader!" With a snap of her fingers, Dan Reid and several men at his side erupted into flames. He pated the fire that was quickly burning through his armor and he ran toward the water's edge. He screamed as he jumped in. With the flames extinguished, and his face taking the majority of the heat, Dan sank to the bottom under the weight of his armor. Above him he could hear the muffled sounds of rifle fire as his platoon fired on the young girl. Quickly, he ignored the pain of his burnt face and unstrapped his chest, back, and midsection armor. Then kicked hard toward the surface. When he broke water, he could hear the repeated laughter of a young girl as bullet rounds fired all about the station. Men screamed orders, asked where the girl was, cried out for their mothers and medics, and begged superiors to retreat. Dan swam over the surface and grabbed the edge of the pier. He pulled himself out of the water and dared to not touch his face. The pain was going away, but he knew that was only because his nerves had most likely overloaded. The pain would return a hundred fold, but he couldn't worry about that.

Dan unclipped his side arm and motioned toward a nearby create with two marines hiding behind. Christina's maniacal laughter filled the room as lighting and flames erupted all around the station. "We need to fill ranks."

"Sir, we hit her but she won't die." One of the marines said, but he couldn't look Dan in the face.

"Damn it. We need heavy weapons. Get on that .50 caliber. I'll cover you." Dan pointed toward a create with a gun position on top. The heavy caliber machine gun could cut a human in half, at the least it would slow the girl down. The two soldiers jumped up and ran for the .50 cal, while Dan hustled behind them. At his side, the water began to lap at the pier, and instinctively he looked into the dark water. What looked back at him gave his heart a reason to stop.

The red glow of four big daddies' eyes leered back out of the water. They emerged with a thundering roar, leaping into the air and landing on the pier with four metallic thuds. The wings on their backs extended as chains dangled from them. One of the big daddies grabbed a chain off his wings and tossed it at Dan. He couldn't get out of the way in time. The chain wrapped around him and Dan was pulled toward the big daddy with a quick tug. The big daddy's roar was drowned out by the power of his attached drill. Water flung in all directions as the drill bit spun to full speed and impaled itself into Lieutenant Dan Reid's chest. When Dan stopped screaming, the Angel flung his lifeless body to the side and ran toward the heart of the battle, each of its steps sounding as though a train were chugging across the station.

The two soldiers were able to load and fire the .50 cal. The first big daddy was cut down in a hail of rounds, its life blood sprayed all over the pier as its helmet light faded. But another Angel fired its rivet gun, killing both the soldiers and then stepped on the massive machine gun, leaving only a smoldering pile of metal.

"Christina!" Melissa shouted as she appeared in the center of the room. The red smoke that surrounded her gave the surviving marines pause, not knowing if she were friend or foe. She stood unprotected in the center of the room, and the marines watched her closely. "Show yourself!"

Two big daddies approached reluctantly. Their eyes glowed a blood curling red, but they did not attack. One swirled a chain in its left hand as a drill bit spun on its right. The other held a rivet gun at its hip, aimed and ready to fire. Melissa ignored them both.

"So you came." Christina giggled. She landed at the side of the two big daddies. A third walked through a pile of moaning marines as they slide their wounded forms clear of the big daddy's feet. Blood trailed behind one of the marines as he pulled himself clear. He was missing a foot and blood pumped from the gaping stump. The moans of the dying was all around, marine medics ran from body to body helping those that they could, while others lay in torn mounds of dead flesh; victims of the powerful big daddies or Christina's madness.

Surrounded, Melissa only gave her attention to Christina. "Stop this. I'm only giving you one warning."

Christina giggled. "I wasn't going to give you any." The lighting came first. It washed over Melissa in a rush, casting blue sparks of electricity all about her. Her body stiffened and convulsed as she lost control of her muscles. The sensation passed and she felt the massive weight of a big daddy plow into her. She flew backwards across the room, and her lungs exploded what air she had in them. When she hit the wall, blackness crept into her eyes. The pain was immense, but it was fading fast as her body rejected it and began to heal. When she moved to stand another big daddy was stalking toward her, its rivet gun hissed as metal slugs escaped its barrel. They were anti healing rounds, Melissa knew, and she couldn't let them hit her. With a thought, she vanished, turned invisible and ran across the room.

"Hide, hide, big sister, sister. Run, run, from the big bad daddy. You won't get far. My daddy is too strong!" Christina looked left and right as the big daddies returned to her side. The positioned around her, heads on a constant swivel for anything that would approach.

"Wise choice using Angels to fight for you." The voice seemed to come from all over the room. "A true daddy would never fight a sister of old. But these new Angels of yours will fight me. Puppets stolen from Karen Tenenbaum."

She laughed. "Oh, so you talk to me? You talk the dance of death to the queen of the damned." Christina spun, thinking she heard a rustling of footsteps. "Run , run, sister, sister. You die now. You die later. But no matter what, you will die today." She turned again, as a laugh sounded behind her. The daddies turned as well. She giggled and smiled. "Coward, don't hide. Face me! Play with me in my war, and spill your blood on this ground with your surface warriors! I smell your fear!" A knife stabbed Christina in the neck and she shrieked at the sudden shock of it.

Melissa stood at her side and whispered in her ear. "There is no fear in me. Only the wisdom of the last heir of Rapture." She vanished before the big daddies could turn to face her, yanking the blade from Christina's throat and sending blood across the room.

Christina laughed as the blood flow slowly stopped and the wound healed. "You forget, silly milly. You can't hurt me!"

"Hurt you?" Melissa's voice echoed about the room. "You wanted a war. I'll give you your war. You wanted to play like the little sisters of old? We fought splicers. So let me tell you … little child. Splicers hunted for blood and Adam." She laughed suddenly, a twisted bellow that was so terrifying that even the big daddies seemed afraid. It sent shivers down the backs of the marines hiding all around. "Oh, my dear sweet and tasty Christina. I'm going to cut you, burn you, shock you, sting you, and lavish in every scream you give me. When I'm done with you, little mouse, you'll beg to die. You want a war. I'll be your splicer."

Christina did not laugh.

* * * * * * * *

The proving grounds lay ahead, Mike remembered how Melissa talked about it. It was where the Big Daddies were trained. Fitting for him to be racing along the corridor as a Big Daddy himself, yet there was no little sister to guide him, only a lost and conflicted teenager. Tasha was his guide, but no splicers attacked, no security bots or alarm drones awaited the short maze.

Tasha whispered. "We played here a lot as kids. All the dangers were taken away, but Lady Tenenbaum did not clean this section up. She left it barren, a reminder of the evil that dwelt here. She did not know we came here to play." Indeed the path was barren, dark and desolate. Only a few lights remained to guide their path, and most of the light was from Mike's helmet. He cast an eerie glow ahead of them as his helmet shined on the walls and the wet floors. A hole appeared ahead, a section that the big daddies did not fix, and a dead big daddy lay cold and covered with mold and rust; its life long passed.

"A … battle… happened here."

"Yes. The battle to win the heart of a maiden, the older women say. Here, Jack defeated a big daddy that was angry with him, as a little sister guided him through the traps. As children, we had fear from the stories that Lady Tenenbaum told us, about what lies beyond this dead daddy. She said in her stories, '_it was the room where evil and good collided, and cracked the heavens and made a man into a God. Yet Jack slew the evil God, and cast him down, and the sisters rejoiced and drank the Adam from the God's fallen body. Yet his evil spirit did not die, and even today, the evil God Fontaine still dwells at the top of the elevator._' That is why we call it the Realm of Gods."

Mike walked ahead, stepping over the body and through the last door. Boxes lay over turned, mold and mildew and rust covered the walls. Yet the door to the elevator was clean. "Did… someone… clean it?"

"Often." Tasha said. "We hated this door, feared it and loved it. We would dare each other to ride it to the Realm of Gods, but no one was brave enough. Until Kate pushed us aside and climbed it. Kate was the first of us to go up there. She changed that day. She told us nothing of what she saw, but said that it was beautiful and terrifying. It was that day that the first men came down from the surface. And it was that day we began our plans."

Mike understood. She saw no God upon the top of the elevator. Kate saw nothing that made the stories Tenenbaum told her feel real, but she dared not crush the hopes of her friends. Kate knew the ugly truth of Adam and power. She saw death. Mike pushed open the elevator door and stepped in. Tasha hesitated, looking fearful and took a step back.

He offered her his gloved hand. "We must… see this… to the … end." She grabbed his hand and stepped inside. She was afraid. He could feel her body trembling as she wrapped her arms around him. She was nearly as tall as Mike, but he was also much smaller than a big daddy should be.

"It changed her. Kate started this after she went up there. What if it is the evil spirit of Fontaine?" The stories of her youth, and the added change that took Kate, was making her fear the Realm of Gods more than it had as a child. Mike said nothing. He pulled her close as the elevator slowly ground to a metallic stop.

The door parted and light filled the room beyond the door. Tasha squeezed tighter around his chest, nervously looking into the room. The hum of machinery filled the air as Mike and Tasha slowly stepped into the clearing. Machines from days old buzzed and whirled and at the center of the room stood Frank Fontaine, arms stretched wide and perched on a cross with needles in his arms. Tasha gave a shout as her eyes peered at him, and she buried her head into Mike's shoulder armor. Her body was shaking in horror.

Mike knew something was foul, Frank Fontaine was dead and if he lived someone would have known. A man like Fontaine would not keep himself hidden.

"Take me back! Take me back!" Tasha pleaded, sobbing as Mike continued to walk closer to the metallic cross.

"No… this isn't… right." He pushed away from Tasha as she backed away. Mike stepped on the lower step of the stairway leading up to the metal cross and looked closer at the body. "It's… a corpse. A dead… man."

Tasha backed away, slowly, terrified of what horrors might be awaiting them. "General, please! Take me back! I don't want to be here! We'll leave Kate to her own devices. She's more evil than…" A hand gripped her from behind. Tasha spun and shrieked.

"More evil than, Fontaine?" Kate said. "Not likely, but I was curious." Mike turned from the dead body and looked back as Tasha pulled away from Kate.

"What… have you… done?" He stood ready for anything, preparing his plasmids to attack.

Kate looked up at Mike. "The armor suits you well." She left Tasha alone and walked towards Mike. "When I first came up here, the room was dark, and filled with echoes. I found the combination to climb the elevator, my mother's notes were not hidden well. When I walked in, his body lay here on the floor. The Adam within him left his body well preserved. I was so scared when I saw his eyes glaring at me that I ran away as fast as I could. But it was so dark, I couldn't see. Do you remember that day, Tasha? When were still so young?"

"I do."

Kate smiled. "I hid behind that machine, terrified, fearful that the body was moving in the shadow of the dark. All the tales my mother told me flooded into my head, all at once. The spirit of Fontaine was looking at me, calling to me, or so I told myself. After a while my eyes finally adjusted to the dark, and I powered on the lights at the control station nearby. The body hadn't moved, as I had feared. Then I explored more. This was the Realm of the Gods. This was the climatic location where Jack and Fontaine, a man and a God, fought for the rule of Rapture. Where Fontaine fell, he was still laying. My Mother never came back to this room, and I assume neither did Grandmother Tenenbaum."

Kate lifted a probing rod from her back. The long needle still wet with coagulated blood and gel. "They even left their tools behind. Those sisters used these to extract the nectar of Adam from the dead. Imagine my joy when I first found this still stuck inside Fontaine."

"That's why you're so strong." Tasha said.

"I couldn't resist. I had to know. The Ancient Adam within him, thick as jelly from ages past, was so pure that it made me choke. But I wanted more. I felt I grow fat from how much Adam was still in him."

Tasha shook her head. "That can't be. Our mothers drank the blood of Fontaine, they drained him till he died."

"Silly Tasha, look at the body. It seeps with Adam, pulses with EVE, sweats pure Plasmids. His body lay lifeless, but they drank only what was within his blood stream. The Adam still flowed in his muscles, his bones, his brain. Over the years, his body began to break down, and the last of the Adam seeped into pools within his body. Thick as Jelly."

"That… is why… you have him… here." Mike looked back to Fontaine's body on the cross with needles sticking in him, slowly extracting thick gels of aged Adam.

"No one comes here." Kate continued. "No one except me. Every month I came and I drank. Giving my best friends only a sliver of what I had. I dripped it in your drinks, your food, your toothpaste, you never knew. Mother questioned, she wondered why you possessed strength like hers, but with Grandmother Tenenbaum dead, she had no way of verifying that the seed could not be passed on genetically. It was her only scientific observation. But mother was no true scientist."

Kate sat on the step beneath Mike. "We can process the Adam, but we cannot produce it the way our mothers' could. But like normal humans, we can grow stronger, the more we ingest, yet we do not have side effects the way normal humans do. We do not crave it or get addicted."

"You knew all of this." Tasha gasped. "We fought our parents… killed aunts and uncles alike… for you."

"Yes. For me. Frank Fontaine did not become a God. Jack did not stop a super being. Frank Fontaine was only a monster of a man. He had power, great power, and he let it corrupt him. I want that power. I'll have that power."

"Why?" Mike asked.

"Because, for every Jack, there must be a Frank Fontaine. For every Bridgette Tenenbaum, there must be an Andrew Ryan." She looked at Tasha. "For every good, there must be evil. That is the way of all stories."

* * * * * * * *

Puddles of blood formed around Christina. Her clothes dripped from wounds that had long ago healed. Two Angel big daddies had been slain by Melissa's constant attacks, and now only one Angel and Christina remained. She was tired, so exhausted from the constant stabs and cuts and healing that she could barely keep her eyes open. The clothes she wore, which were once blue and white and pretty, were now red and pink and clung to her young immature curves. A tear dripped from her eye and she leaned against the Angel's protective leg.

"Tired, little mouse?" Melissa hissed. "Where are your cunning remarks? The invincible nature of youth? Are you afraid?"

"Please… stop this." Christina moaned. Her voice was full of youth and fear and the uncertainty of what to do.

"No." Melissa said as she stabbed Christina in the back. The young girl shrieked and clung to the big daddy's leg. The daddy spun, roared and swung its drill. But this time Melissa did not retreat. She ducked the weapon, pushed the big daddy with a vortex of wind, and shocked him with an overload of electricity. His body feel lifeless to the floor; a smoldering husk of metal and fluid.

Christina had stumbled in the attack and was trying to crawl away, the knife still stuck in her back, blood dripped from the wound as it tried to close around the blade.

Melissa watched her as she sobbed and tried to crawl away. She almost felt sorry for the girl, after all it was not her doing that started the war, it was Kate. Christina was but a bystander of bad judgment.

Christina cried out. "Momma… please… momma! Help me!"

The words cut through Melissa's heart. The girl had been reduced to a crying child calling out for her mother. She had not expected to her to fall this far in fear. This was the same little girl that killed men with no remorse only a few minutes ago. She walked closer to her and knelt at her side. "Poor child. Don't you remember? Your mother was one of my sisters assigned to guard Central Control." Melissa yanked the knife out of Christina's back and the girl cried out and collapsed with a whimper. "You and Kate… killed them all. You killed your mother, just like Kate. Or had you even noticed her? I wonder."

The girl didn't respond. Melissa threw the knife away and watched the last wound in Christina's back closely. When she fist attacked her, the wounds healed almost before the blade came out, but now, it was so slow. Like a snail crawl, it closed shut, blood pumping out with each heartbeat.

"Your Adam is almost gone." She huffed. "Now you're healing like a normal sister again. You had so much Adam, but no brain. So young and so stupid. It would be easy to kill you now. So easy." She touched the open wound and rubbed some blood on her finger. She then stuck the bloody finger in her mouth. "I can barely taste the Adam anymore. Are you going to die, little girl?" She picked her up and held her in her arms. "Not yet. I think you should see how this war of yours ends first."

In a puff of red smoke Melissa vanished and became invisible. Unlike Tasha's unique Houdini ability, Christina could only run the way normal Houdini splicers could. She ran through the dim corridors, passing through walls and water, and oceans and tunnels, and big daddies and more walls, until she was tired and standing at the elevator that led up to Frank Fontaine's tomb. Blood dripped down her arms as Christina's blood drenched clothes dripped. One more puff of smoke and they were running up the elevator shaft and emerged in the room with Mike, Tasha, Kate, and the body of Fontaine.

"Christina failed." Kate huffed as she watched the two of them appear. Melissa said nothing. She gently laid the little girl's body on the floor.

"Fontaine!" Melissa voiced as she looked to the body on the metal cross. "Like before..."

"So now it is three against one." Kate interrupted. "I guess I talked too much earlier, and now I stand alone. How will this tale end?" She looked at Tasha. "Here we are, at the end. And when this is done, one of us will have an amazing story to tell."

"For generations to come." Tasha seemed to smile at that notion.

Kate stood to her feet, and with her body as the epicenter, a bubble of air propelled outward. Mike was tossed away, flipping over the cross and landing on the empty tanks of Adam behind Fontaine. Melissa was thrown back, her head hit the wall of the elevator shaft, but she managed to catch Christina's still unconscious form. Tasha vanished before the wave hit her. She appeared at Mike's side and helped him to his feet.

"I'm not like Kate, I don't have offensive abilities. I'm jut fast." She watched as Kate jumped down beside her; her face a scowl of rage, twisted by the Adam that was boiling within her. Her eyes suddenly began to glow and pulses of electricity exploded from the ground, but it was not random. Tasha grabbed Mike and vanished just as a pillar of lightning surged under their feet. They reappeared at Melissa's side.

Melissa had tucked Christina out of harm's way. "Tasha, I need that Adam Probe that Kate has." She pointed toward Kate as she walked from around the corner; stalking slowly toward them. "The only way to stop her is to remove as much Adam as we can, or wait until she runs out but that could take days! She's too strong!" Mike stood to his feet, his armor changing color at random. "The General and I will keep her distracted."

Tasha watched as Mike, the General, charged head first toward Kate. His speed nearly doubled as he lunged, shoulder first toward her. Kate threw a gust of wind, but Mike didn't slow down and he plowed into her. She rolled back a few steeps but was on her feet faster than Tasha thought possible. Mike pulled down the rivet gun from his back and fired. Kate dodged, raised a tower of lighting up from underneath his feet. He froze in place, shaking, but soon returned to normal. Melissa through flames from her arms, but they never touched Kate. Mike was upon her thanks to the distraction. He trampled her under his heavy boots, but Kate did not scream. He then turned and looked at her with a stern gaze. Kate erupted into flames. Melissa was shocked; Mike had Kate's instant plasmid ability, but not nearly her strength.

She stood and blew the flames off her with a wave of her arms. Lighting followed as Mike became more accustomed to summoning the ability of the Plasmids flowing through his armor. Kate deflected them. A wave of ice raced from her feet, tracking Mike as he dodged. Melissa threw flames to melt the ice and bought Mike a little breathing room. Yet that only seemed to attract Kate's favor. She turned toward Melissa and a tidal wave of ice flowed toward her.

Tasha stepped forward, grabbed Melissa and they both vanished. Suddenly, Tasha was standing next to Kate. Kate snarled and blew Tasha away, but before she could hit the floor she was gone in a flighty puff of red smoke.

Kate turned back to Mike, only a bit too late. His shoulder landed against her head knocking her off her feet and back against a side rail. She flipped and landed in a stagnant pool of dark brown and moldy water. Unfazed she stood in the knee deep water and tried to find someone to attack, someone to kill. Her anger had peaked and she was tired of this game.

When the water around her began to glow, she knew she was in for a great deal of pain. She let out a shout as both Mike and Melissa tossed electricity into the water. Pain coursed her body, pain so intense she felt as though she would lose consciousness, but she quickly flash boiled the water. With heat so high, the water vaporized almost instantly. This was Kate's true power. Her other skills with plasmids was nothing compared to the fire techniques she had learned; the very same flames that had burned her mother to ashes.

Kate's clothes erupted in a flame around her. They turned to ashes instantly, leaving only her naked form standing before Mike and Melissa. She ran toward them, heat swelling off her body, yet she felt fine. Metal melted beneath her bear feet. Mike threw ice at her, but Melissa feared nothing would cool Kate's flame, yet Kate slowed and pain filled her. She threw back a wave of heat, and Mike dived clear. Mike was able to hurt her, he really was strong with plasmids.

Tasha appeared again, this time floating above Kate's naked form. As she fell she pointed the long metal probe downward, and before Kate knew what had happened the probe was stabbing downward into her shoulder. Tasha had taken it just before she had been blown away earlier. Blood and Adam swirled into the tank as Kate shrieked. A swell of air pushed outward, tossing Tasha and the probe off of her back. Tasha vanished and reappeared in front of Kate. She plunged the probe between her breasts, and more blood and Adam flowed into the long metal rod. Kate was in more shock than in pain. It was as if Tasha was in two place at once. She was too fast. Furious, Kate raised her temperature even hotter, and the probe began to glow red hot.

Tasha screamed as the searing heat burned her palm. She had to let go. In pain and cradling her hand, she didn't see what was coming. A pulse of electricity formed on Kate's hand and fired at Tasha, but she was pushed aside. She landed and looked up as Melissa stood motionless over her with a hole in her chest the size of a fist.

It was a strange sensation, Melissa thought as she slowly felt the life drain from her. Her life, as it was, didn't flash before her eyes. She recalled stories of how people said they could see old friends and family members while on their death bed, Melissa had no such vision. There was no pain, only an immense exhaustion. She was so tired. She slumped forward to her knees and she thought of young Danny, her Sister's that escaped Rapture and now lived on the surface, she thought of her small apartment and her mediocre job. She understood then, she didn't have a life that could flash before her eyes. But as the weight of her eyes grew heavier, she saw Jack, his palm stretched out to her with the tattoo of a chain-link on his wrist. She smiled at that. She had come home, and jack was waiting for her.

Lifeless she slumped forward and into Tasha's outstretched arms.

Kate pulled the probe out of her chest and tossed it to the side. "You lose."

Mike caught the probe in mid air. Kate never saw his approach. He charged at a full sprint and slammed the needle into the base of her skull. She gasped a loose scream, but not even the heat being pumped into the metal probe was not enough to make Mike let go.

His glove began to smoke from the heat of the probe, he could feel the heat searing the skin under the glove, through the glove, the glove itself, but he never let go. Kate crumbled to her knees and her body began to cool. Her eyes grew heavy and she fell forward onto the metal floor. Her body turned charcoal black, a sure sign that the life Adam had given her was now too weak to keep her alive.

Mike didn't remove the probe, instead he had turned his attention to Melissa. Tasha held her, both on their knees; one crying and one lifeless. He didn't know why Tasha was crying; either for the life of the one that had saved her, or for her childhood friend Kate, or perhaps for the joy of still being alive. He didn't know. Mike only knew that he wish he could have shed a tear for Melissa, but from inside the suit he had no tears to shed.

After gathering himself, Mike carried Christina's tiny body and laid it next to Melissa. She was awake and had seen everything that had happened in the final fight of 'their' war. She was in a silent shock, immobilized by the trauma that she had just experienced. Tasha had assured him that without Kate, Christina would be harmless. He then carried Kate's cold stiff body and placed it at the cross beneath Fontaine's feet. He would not let the mistakes of the past occur again.

With Christina, and Melissa dead form, Tasha wrapped her arms around them both. Mike placed a hand on Christina's shoulder and waved a burst of electricity toward an explosive charge he had set. His specialty was blowing stuff up, and that was how this whole nightmare had started. The charges ignited and before the explosion washed over them, Tasha teleported all of them back to the Bathysphere station.

When they emerged they were greeted by fearful men and military medical teams. Soldiers aimed their rifles but Tasha and Mike raised their arms and surrendered without a fight.

* * * * * * * *

"You see, back in those days, men from the surface feared the people of Rapture. The magic they had, the power they possessed. Those who were left after that war did not want conquest or hate, they wanted peace." The middle aged woman continued. She sat before a gathering mass of children. All around stood adults and computers lined the walls with video screens and pictures of Rapture. Adults and teens walked amongst the video screens and looked at the pictures, reading the stories written and displayed as the woman continued to talk to the children.

"The day the General came, was not the happy day it should have been. There was pain, and crying, and many people were hurt." She sat forward, her silvery blonde hair fell from her shoulder and she racked it back. At forty years old, Christina had grown into a beautiful woman. She had given birth to children and traveled the world. Speaking to the children before her, and remembering how Lady Tenenbaum's story had affected her, she chose to tell a more realistic story than those she heard as a child, where heroes often died, and evil was sometimes misguided. Children still loved the tales of adventure, though she told an ugly tale; a tale of pain and sorrow and regret, a story of wisdom and sacrifice, children loved the truthfulness. "The sister was so powerful, that she was blind with it. And so it was that everyone fought her for fear of what she may do to the world."

After telling the tale of Kate's fall, and kissing some of the children goodbye and sharing words of advice to some of the parents, she walked away from the library and stared up at the beautiful son overhead. Her husband pulled up in his car, a black shiny new vehicle that the Australian Government had loaned them. "You ready. I'm starving." Danny said. He was five years older than Christina, the son of a Little Sister that had been saved by Jack with Melissa.

They had first met when Christina first appeared as an author. She wrote books of undersea tales, and in that first book she told the story of Melissa. At the time, Danny was young man and had cried when he found out how his favorite aunt had died. "She was so alone," Danny had said, "and all she wanted was to belong. My mother said she went back to Rapture to find herself." She felt sorry for his loss and they stayed close over the years, and eventually they were wed. She never told him how she and Melissa had fought the day of her death, but she did tell him that Tasha was alive because of Melissa's sacrifice; just as it was written in her story.

Returning to the present, she walked around the car and kissed him, deeply and passionately. She was a wife and a mother, her life changed thanks to the punishment she received at Melissa's hands. The nightmares still plagued her, but she had grown accustomed to them. Before she could get in her car, a young girl ran up to her.

"Miss Christina! Can you autograph my book? I love your stories." The girl smiled. In her hand was a toy stuffed Big Daddy; with feathery wings and a sword in his hand. And in her other hand was a hard digital book pad. On its cover was the title _"Rapture: A tale of War."_ Christina autographed it and waved as the girl ran back into the library. She climbed in the car and closed the door.

Danny kissed her once again. "Hard to believe what the world thinks of your story. And they are going to make a movie out of it. If only they knew that it is all true."

Christina smiled. "I wrote a story about a world at the bottom of the sea. With magic and heroes and villains, all torn between the world powers. I'm a story teller, nothing more. Everyone knows of Rapture, but my story… to them… isn't real. Flights of fancy, the US government calls it, telling everyone that Rapture is abandoned and lifeless and has been for more than sixty years. "

"Yeah. Well, one day you and my mother will have to take me to this magic world beneath the sea. Let me see the General, the great Guardian of Rapture, and your older Sister Tasha, the Spirit mother of the wind. It all sounds so fantastic."

Christina huffed. "You know the truth of it Danny. Let the US military have there secret, and I'll tell my story. I will never take you to that place. There is nothing down there but pain and death and dark memories best forgotten."

The End.


End file.
